(Yicai) May 27 -- The stock market delisting of Lawson will not impinge on its operations in China, where it is the biggest foreign convenience store chain by store count, a local employee told Yicai.

The Tokyo-based company is expected to delist on July 24, according to a Nikkei newspaper report on May 21.

Japan’s competition regulator approved telecoms giant KDDI’s take private tender offer for Lawson in March. It went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2000.

Lawson has been the largest foreign convenience store chain in China for three consecutive years, after overtaking FamilyMart in 2020.

Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu told Kyodo News in 2020 that the firm planned to increase the number of stores in China to 10,000 by 2025. It had 21,000 stores worldwide as of the end of last month, of which 6,300 were in China, according to its website.

Editor: Futura Costaglione