Canadian convenience giant Alimentation Couche-Tard has agreed to buy Poland's Zabka Group for about $8.7 billion, its largest deal ever and a decisive pivot to Central Europe after walking away from a $46 billion pursuit of Japan's Seven and I last year. The tender offer at 32 zlotys per share carries a 9.4 percent premium to the prior close and values Zabka at roughly 32.6 billion zlotys. Shareholders representing 57 percent of the company, including CVC Capital and Partners Group, have committed to tender.
The Europe pivot is real
Couche-Tard has long talked about reducing its reliance on North American fuel margins. This deal does it in one stroke. The combined network would span roughly 30,300 stores, lifting Europe to about 60 percent of the store base from 30 percent today. Executive Alex Miller framed it as diversification away from fuel on a conference call; the numbers bear that out. Zabka's 13,000 outlets across Poland and Romania are almost entirely non-fuel convenience, and in Poland the average store sits within 500 metres of a resident's home.
Synergies and autonomy in the same breath
Management identified $250 million in annual synergies within three years, a figure that will be scrutinized given the insistence on "total autonomy" for Zabka. The brand stays, the franchise model stays, and incoming chief executive Tomasz Blicharski will report directly to Miller. Couche-Tard has promised delisting only if it reaches 95 percent ownership. The market's initial reaction was telling: shares jumped 12 percent at the open before settling around the offer price, suggesting investors see the premium as fair but not generous.
Seven and I's shadow
The Japanese conglomerate explored a Zabka stake earlier this month but could not agree terms, according to prior reporting. That Couche-Tard moved quickly after its own $46 billion approach to Seven and I collapsed, the Japanese side declined to engage constructively, Couche-Tard said at the time, underscores a broader truth: the global convenience roll-up is happening, just not on the terms the biggest players first imagined. Closing is targeted for December 2026.