David George-Cosh

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Convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. will be eliminating its dual-class share structure on Wednesday.

In a statement released late Friday, the company announced all four co-founders of Couche-Tard - Alain Bouchard, Jacques D'Amours, Richard Fortin and Réal Plourde – will be at least 65 years old as of Dec. 8, triggering a scheduled collapse of the company’s dual-class share structure.

Investors that hold Couche-Tard’s Class B shares will receive Class A versions of the stock on a one-to-one basis. The Class B shares will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange after market close Dec. 7.

While the dual-class share structure has been used frequently in many family-run businesses in Canada, it has found itself back in the spotlight following internal board turmoil at Rogers Communications Inc. over the past several weeks. Rogers Chair Edward Rogers used his position as head of the telecom giant's family-controlled trust to oust several directors, as well as his desire to replace the company's Chief Executive Officer Joe Natale, with former Chief Financial Officer Tony Staffieri. 

Bouchard, Couche-Tard's co-founder and executive chairman, said that despite the changes to the company's share structure, it remains business as usual. 

"We have been planning for this for some time," said Bouchard in a statement on Friday.

"All of the founders, including myself, will remain as members of Couche-Tard's board of directors and closely involved in the organization. My commitment and leadership of the business will not change, and I am more confident than ever before that our size, our winning culture and strategy, and the structures that we have put in place, both at the executive management level and from a governance standpoint, will serve the business well."

In addition to the stock class changes, Couche-Tard said it plans to amend previously announced terms of a share buyback of more than 32 million shares to Class A shares rather than Class B shares.