Casey's moves to thwart Couche bid

Ames, Iowa Canadian c-store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard said Tuesday it has called upon U.S. takeover target Casey's General Stores to discuss its bid rather than attempt to thwart Couche-Tard’s hostile acquisition with a “poison pill” defense.

“A meeting would be more productive than putting roadblocks, like a poison pill, in the path of our compelling proposal,” Couche-Tard said in a statement.

Casey’s informed U.S regulators that it is adopting a complicated shareholders rights agreement that could put a wrench in Couche-Tard’s acquisition efforts.

Poison pill defenses usually make a takeover prohibitively expensive for the acquiring company by flooding the market with shares.

The moves come a week after Couche-Tard disclosed a $1.9-billion (U.S. dollars) bid for Casey's that was immediately rejected by Casey's board as opportunistic.