Here are five things you need to know this morning:
Canadian convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard is looking to get significantly bigger: The Quebec-based company has confirmed it is in talks to buy Seven & i Holdings Co., the owner of 7-Eleven stores. Seven & i is a Japan-based firm, with a market capitalization of about US$31 billion. The company said the bid was preliminary and non-binding, without disclosing terms. A special committee of independent outside directors will make a “prompt, careful and comprehensive review of the proposal,” Seven & i said in a statement Monday. Couche-Tard’s main asset is the Circle K chain of stores. Couche is not standing still while the 7-Eleven situation develops. The company announced the acquisition of GetGo Café+Markets from supermarket retailer Giant Eagle today. GetGo operates approximately 270 convenience retail and fuelling locations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana. Terms of that deal were not disclosed.
More than 9,000 workers at Canada’s two major railways could be either on strike or locked out as of Thursday: The union representing thousands of workers at Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. says it has served a 72-hour strike notice to the railway. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference says that unless the parties can reach a last-minute agreement, workers will be off the job as of 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time Thursday. Not long after the union’s statement, CN Rail issued a notice that it intends to lock workers out at that same time unless an agreement or binding arbitration is achieved. The company says no meaningful progress has occurred despite weekend labour negotiations. Both CPKC and CN have been halting shipments in preparation for potential work stoppages.
Cogeco has announced a five-year agreement with an unidentified national operator to provide access to its Canadian wireless network: The Montreal-based telecom company has also signed a deal with Eastlink to supply wireless technology platforms. Cogeco will now be able to offer the full set of telecommunication services in markets where it already operates a wireline network.
Shares of U.S. technology company Advanced Micro Devices traded higher in the pre-market: Investors are giving a thumbs-up to the company’s plan to buy server maker ZT Systems in a cash and stock transaction valued at US$4.9 billion. ZT is a privately-held company based in New Jersey. It makes server computers for large data centres used in various applications, includingartificial intelligence.
Another sign today that Canada’s real estate market remains in something of a holding pattern: After adjusting for seasonal effects, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which covers the country’s eleven largest urban areas, rose a modest 0.2 per cent in July. Hamilton was the hottest market, with a 2.3 per cent increase in average selling price. Prices fell in Ottawa-Gatineau (-0.4 per cent), Winnipeg (-0.1 per cent), Vancouver (-0.1 per cent) and Montreal (-0.1 per cent).
