Convenience store giant Lawson will delist! Will it affect 6,300 stores in China? official response
Recently, Japanese convenience store chain Lawson has attracted attention. There are reports that Japan's Lawson announced that it will hold an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in July, and the company is expected to delist on July 24.
According to the official website of Lawson Japan, as of the end of April 2024, Lawson has approximately 21,000 stores around the world and approximately 6,300 stores in China.
In this regard, Ms. Zheng from Lawson China's president's office told China Business News that this matter is an internal equity change and investment strategy adjustment within Lawson Japan and will not affect our company's normal operations.
In February this year, Japanese mobile operator KDDI announced that it would conduct a public tender offer for Lawson. With the completion of the tender offer, Mitsubishi Corporation and KDDI will each hold 50% of Lawson's shares.
On March 6, Japan’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced KDDI Co., Ltd.’s acquisition of Lawson Co., Ltd.’s equity. Prior to the transaction, Lawson was solely controlled by Mitsubishi Corporation. After the transaction, Mitsubishi Corporation and KDDI will each hold 50% of Lawson's shares and jointly control Lawson. Rosen will become an equity-method entity for both businesses, and Rosen's shares will be withdrawn from the exchange and will no longer be publicly traded.
As for the reason why KDDI chose to acquire Lawson across borders, some analysts in Japan believe that the main purpose is to expand businesses other than communications. As the telecommunications industry market becomes saturated, Japan's major telecommunications operators have successively expanded their markets in finance, retail and other fields.
In fact, the delisting of Japanese companies is nothing new. At the end of December last year, Toshiba Japan officially delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The reasons for Toshiba's delisting are mostly financial and operating scandals.
According to the company's official website, Lawson was established in 1939 in Ohio, USA as "Mr. Lawson's Milk Store". It entered the Japanese market in 1975 and fully launched its business in Japan as a professional chain convenience store company. At present, in addition to Japan and China, Lawson also has many stores in Indonesia, the United States, Thailand, and the Philippines.
In 1996, Lawson entered the Chinese market as the first foreign-funded convenience store chain and opened its first store in Shanghai. After 2010, it has been stationed in Chongqing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Beijing, Ningbo, Wuhan, Hefei, Changsha, Shenyang, Chengdu, Shenzhen and other cities.
Since the number of stores surpassed FamilyMart for the first time in 2020 and became the top three Japanese convenience stores, as of last year, Lawson China has become the brand with the largest number of foreign convenience stores in China for the third consecutive year.
As early as 2020, Lawson President Takemasu Sadanobu said in an interview with Japan's Kyodo News that he planned to increase the number of stores in China to 10,000 by 2025.
