TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Seven & i and Alimentation Couche-Tard have signed a non-disclosure agreement over the stores they may need to offload to meet U.S. antitrust conditions in the event the Canadian retailer buys the Japanese company, a Seven & i spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The two retailers have also signed NDAs with potential buyers of the stores. Seven & i and Couche-Tard announced they were working together on sounding out buyers last week.

The NDAs were signed in early March and only cover stores that are potential divestiture candidates, the spokesperson said.

Couche-Tard submitted a $47 billion buyout offer for Seven & i last year, but the operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain has resisted signing an NDA and offering due diligence on its entire business, citing antitrust hurdles in the U.S.

Couche-Tard has said signing a full NDA would allow it to make an enhanced offer. However Seven & i has said that they must first find a credible buyer for 2,000 or more stores in the U.S., otherwise there would be an unacceptable risk should the deal be blocked.

(Reporting by Anton Bridge and Ritsuko Shimizu. Editing by Mark Potter)