First-round bids ranged from about ¥750 billion to around ¥1.2 trillion (US$7.6 billion), from Bain, according to the report.

KKR offered about ¥800 billion, Reuters said, while local buyout firm Japan Industrial Partners was at the lower end.

A spokesperson for Seven & i declined to comment on the report. Representatives for KKR and Bain also declined to comment to Bloomberg.

Seven & i laid out a roadmap to jettison its underperforming businesses in October and instead focus on its convenience store operations as it fends off a US$47 billion takeover bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

The retailer’s founding family is in separate talks to take Seven & i private through a ¥9 trillion management buyout.

That proposal is likely to include an initial public offering of its North American convenience stores and gasoline stations to ease financing concerns, Bloomberg reported earlier this month, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The Ito family is racing to formalise the proposal as pressure mounts from Couche-Tard’s offer.

A deal would amount to Japan’s biggest buyout on record as the country pushes to keep its star brands out of foreign hands.