By Ritsuko Shimizu and Rocky Swift
TOKYO (Reuters) -Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, announced a change of CEO and plans to restructure its business in the face of a $47 billion foreign takeover bid.
Lead outside director Stephen Dacus will succeed Ryuichi Isaka as chief executive on May 27, the company said on Thursday, putting a foreign executive in charge of Seven & i for the first time.
The retail conglomerate also said it will buy back about 2 trillion yen ($13.4 billion) worth of shares through fiscal year 2030, and pursue a listing of its North American convenience store subsidiary by the second half of 2026.
Additionally, Seven & i, which has more than 80,000 7-Eleven stores in 20 countries and regions, said it agreed to sell its superstore unit to Bain Capital for 814.7 billion yen and that it would sell down its ownership of Seven Bank to below 40%.
The company will hold a media briefing at 5 p.m. (0800 GMT) in Tokyo to talk about the plan.
Seven & i has been the target of investor criticism over its capital allocation for years, and in August received a buyout offer from Circle-K operator Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATC) that was eventually raised to $47 billion.
In response, a group led by Seven & i’s founding Ito family mounted its own buyout offer, while the company’s management said they could chart an independent path to recovery.
Dacus, who previously held executive roles with Walmart and Fast Retailing, has also led a special committee vetting the takeover bids. The Ito family group failed to secure a reported $58 billion in funding for its offer, scuttling the deal late last month.
Dacus was replaced as head of the special committee by another outside director, Paul Yonamine, the company said on Thursday.
The special committee will “continue to constructively engage with ACT to determine whether a credible and actionable remedy and divestiture package can be achieved,” it said.
FOREIGN INVESTORS CRITICISED ISAKA REIGN
Isaka has been with the 7-Eleven operator since 1980, becoming its president in 2016. But his tenure has been criticised by foreign investors, including ValueAct Capital, which tried to oust him in 2023 for pursuing what it said was a flawed strategy.
More recently, U.S.-based Artisan Partners urged the company to consider a competitive bidding process for takeover proposals.
Isaka laid out an independent turnaround plan in October, aiming to roughly double sales to 30 trillion yen by 2030 by expanding overseas and focusing on fresh-food offerings.
If Couche-Tard succeeds in winning control of Seven & i, it would be the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese company.
Seven & i was classified as “core” to Japan’s national security in September, although the finance ministry said at the time it would not create hurdles for a takeover.
(Reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu and Rocky Swift; Editing by Neil Fullick and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
