The US Federal Trade Commission has sued the 7-Eleven convenience store chain in connection with its acquisition of a Florida gas station without prior notice.

The FTC said Monday that the convenience store chain and its Japanese parent company, Seven & i Holdings, face a maximum penalty of more than 77 million dollars.

In 2017, 7-Eleven announced a plan to acquire more than 1,000 retail fuel outlets with attached convenience stores from the US firm, Sunoco.

The FTC said at the time that the proposed acquisition would harm competition in some local markets and result in consumers paying higher fuel prices.

The commission says 7-Eleven and its parent company agreed in 2018 under a consent order to notify the FTC before acquiring any retail fuel outlets.

The FTC says 7-Eleven acquired the fuel outlet in St. Petersburg, Florida, without giving the commission prior notice, violating the consent order.

It says the complaint was filed in a US federal district court.

Seven & i Holdings says 7-Eleven promptly informed the FTC of the acquisition, shortly after its failure to report came to light. The company also says the fuel outlet has already been sold to a third party.

The company says it has acted sincerely and will continue efforts to resolve the problem quickly and fairly.