Authors: Scott Murdoch and Anton Bridge

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Seven & i Holdings said on Wednesday it had received a revised takeover offer from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) (TO:), which was raised to about $47 billion from $38.5 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter.

If the deal goes through, the 7-Eleven owner’s deal would be the largest-ever foreign buyout of a Japanese company.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because price information has not been made public.

Bloomberg was the first to report the recent proposal of $18.19 per share. The recent offer is 22% higher than Couche-Tard’s previous rejected offer of $14.86 per share.

Seven & i said in a statement that the recent proposal is private and non-binding and that it plans to keep the negotiations confidential, as Couche-Tard requested.

Couche-Tard, owner of Circle-K convenience stores, declined to comment on the matter.

“ACT’s increased offer is much more compelling than the original proposal. While regulatory hurdles remain, Seven & i’s management should engage to see if the transaction can proceed,” said Manoj Jain, co-founder and CIO of Congo-based Hong Maso Capital.

Shares of Seven & i rose nearly 12%, the report showed, before giving up gains and ending the day up 4.7% at 2,335 yen ($15.7), indicating some lack of confidence on the part of investors about possibilities of concluding a transaction.

Last month, Seven and I said Couche-Tard’s initial offer “grossly undervalues” the company and highlighted its plans to boost enterprise value on its own. That strategy means it now must show how it plans to deliver better returns to investors, analysts and business leaders say.

Seven & i’s critics, who include foreign investors such as ValueAct Capital and Artisan Partners (NYSE :), say the company should focus on its core convenience store business, which counts more than 80,000 7-Eleven stores in all over the world. Its other operations include supermarkets, a bank, Denny’s (NASDAQ:) restaurants and Tower Records.

Analysts and investors are waiting for details on potential plans to add value after the group’s second-quarter results, which will be published on Thursday.

Seven&i may announce the sale of part of its stake in banking company Seven Bank at an earnings price, Travis Lundy of Quiddity Advisors said in a note on the Smartkarma platform, adding that it would become a “cleaner play.”

Sources told Reuters that Seven & i is considering selling a stake in its supermarket segment, which would mean an acceleration of the arm’s IPO plan announced in April.

The group is also considering changing its name to reflect a greater focus on its core convenience store business, TV Tokyo reported on Wednesday.

Last month, the retail giant was also classified as “essential” from a national security perspective, which was seen as raising regulatory hurdles to a buyout. However, a finance ministry official said this did not change the level of government scrutiny or the review process for any takeover bid for the entire company.

($1 = 148.2400 yen)