The 7-Eleven Australia chain has been sold by its family owners to a Japanese company for $1.7 billion.

The Withers and Barlow families have sold to 7-Eleven International, a joint venture between 7-Eleven Inc and Seven-Eleven Japan.

The families, who opened Australia’s first 7-Eleven store in suburban Melbourne in 1977, formally put the chain of 751 stores across Victoria, NSW, ACT, Queensland and WA up for sale in May.

The families had a proud association with the 7-Eleven brand and it was performing well under a highly credentialed management team, Russell Withers said on Thursday.

“Now is the right time for our families to pass the business to new owners to continue to build and develop this wonderful brand,” Withers said, speaking on behalf of shareholders in the privately held company.

7IN, as the joint venture is known, operates more than 46,000 stores in 16 countries and regions.

The 7-Eleven Australia business will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary, headquartered in Melbourne, with its existing management team continuing to lead the 9,000-employee company.

7IN co-CEOs Shin Abe and Ken Wakabayashi said in a statement they were looking forward to continuing to enhance the 7-Eleven brand in Australia, noting it already enjoyed long-standing presence and customer recognition.

7-Eleven Inc was founded in the US in 1927 but in 2005 became a wholly owned subsidiary of what is now Seven & i Holdings, a Japanese retail conglomerate listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of next year.

–AAP