Japan's Seven & i Holdings will set up a holding company for its non-core assets to bring in outside investment and is planning to change its name, the retailer said on Thursday. The announcement marks an acceleration in its plans to boost corporate value and focus on its core convenience store business in part to resist a takeover bid by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT).

Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. still has room to increase its $47 billion bid for Seven & i Holdings Co., but any further boost is likely to be small, analysts say.

Japan's Seven & i (SVNDY) on Thursday unveiled plans to establish an intermediate holding company that will preside over the retailer's supermarket food busines