Circle K's parent company is fiercely in M&A mode, letting go of 35 stores so it will be allowed to add 270 more in one merger as its push to combine forces with 7-Eleven inches toward completion.

Alimentation Couche-Tard is offloading 35 of its stores across Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania to MAPCO for an undisclosed amount. The deal fulfills a requirement for Couche-Tard so it can move forward with a larger acquisition.

ACT is in the process of acquiring all 270 Giant Eagle-owned GetGo convenience stores for $1.6B, a deal that was first agreed upon last August.

Before the deal could be completed, the Federal Trade Commission stepped in, citing antitrust concerns and ordering Circle K’s parent to shed 35 gas stations. If ACT didn't get rid of gas stations in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania, it would be able to push prices at the pump higher, making the Giant Eagle deal anticompetitive, the FTC said.

MAPCO's 350 gas stations are primarily in the South, with locations in Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

GetGo's stores are in five states: Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

ACT has 20 days to complete the divestiture and can’t reacquire any of these stores for at least 10 years, the FTC’s terms state.

While Couche-Tard’s acquisition of Giant Eagle stores wraps up, so does its takeover deal of 7-Eleven.

The deal, worth $50B, has reached the nondisclosure agreement stage, according to Forbes, which means the two can move forward with talking money and regulation concerns.

Such a merger has to be approved by Canadian regulators.

7-Eleven’s parent company, Seven & i Holdings Co., was offered the bid in August for Couche-Tard to acquire all of Seven & i’s outstanding shares.

In March, Seven & i revealed plans to take its North American 7-Eleven business public, which includes 13,000 stores. Those plans are on ice due to tariff policies.

Couche-Tard owns more than 100,000 stores and operates 17,000 in North America and Europe. Japanese company Seven & i owns 85,000, most of which are concentrated in the U.S., while the rest are in Asia.