Itochu Corp. said Wednesday it will acquire the entire stake in FamilyMart Co. through a tender offer to survive tough competition in the retail business.

Itochu, which currently has a 50.1 percent stake in the convenience store chain, will spend about 580 billion yen ($5.39 billion) to take the remaining stake.

The trading house is offering 2,300 yen per share in the tender offer from Thursday through Aug. 24.

Separately, the convenience store operator reported a 71.5 percent fall in its group net profit to 5.79 billion yen in the first quarter through May, citing a government advisory for people to stay at home as much as possible to curb the spread of the COVID-19 respiratory disease as the cause of its sluggish performance.

The company said sales declined 15.9 percent to 111.76 billion yen in the first three months of its business year ending February 2021.

For the current fiscal year, the company now expects its net profit to rise 37.8 percent to 60 billion yen on revenue of 460 billion yen, down 11.0 percent from the year earlier.

Meanwhile, Aeon Co., another retail giant, said the same day it incurred a consolidated net loss of 53.97 billion yen in the March-May period.

==Kyodo

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