(Recasts with announcement, adds analyst comment)
By Taiga Uranaka
TOKYO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Lawson Inc, Japan's second-largest convenience store chain, said on Wednesday it has agreed to acquire smaller rival am/pm Japan Co for $149 million, boosting its presence in Tokyo area.
Hit by weak growth due to an ageing population and mature economy, Japan's retail industry has undergone major consolidation in recent years, with supermarkets and department store chains acquiring or merging with rivals for survival amid fierce competition.
Convenience store chains, with over 41,000 stores nationwide, also face shrinking growth room at home but analysts said the acquisition is unlikely to trigger similar moves in the $80 billion sector.
"Strong growth cannot be expected for the convenience store sector," said Kazunori Tsuda, a retail analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research.
"But I think mergers and acquisitions would be difficult for this sector given their franchise business model," he said, referring to contracts with store owners that could complicate speedy chain restructuring or store makeovers following acquisitions.
Lawson trails No.1 Seven-Eleven, a unit of Seven & I Holdings that has about 12,000 stores in Japan. The takeover will add am/pm's around 1,100 stores to Lawson's 8,600.
Japan's seventh-largest chain, am/pm is 62.6 percent owned by unlisted retailing group Rex Holdings. Japan Energy Corp, unit of Nippon Mining Holdings, holds a 20 percent stake.
Lawson is 32.4 percent owned by trading company Mitsubishi Corp.
The deal will see Lawson acquire all shares in am/pm from for a nominal price and assume a net debt of 14.5 billion yen ($149 million).
The am/pm chain posted a net loss of 14.9 billion yen for 2007, the latest year for which its earnings have been disclosed, and had a negative net worth of 12.3 billion yen.
Since Japan's first convenience store opened in Tokyo about 35 years ago they have grown rapidly. Many are open around the clock and offer precooked meals, making them part of daily life for many Japanese.
But analysts say there is little room for further growth for the convenience store sector, in which same-store sales fell for eight straight years to last year, when a windfall boost of tobacco sales lifted sales, data from the Japan Franchise Association shows.
Shares of Lawson ended up 0.3 percent on Wednesday, outperforming a 1 percent decline in the Tokyo stock market's retail subindex. ($1=97.05 Yen) (Editing by Michael Watson)