Seven & i finalising plan for President Isaka to step down: Nikkei

SEVEN & i Holdings, the Japanese retail giant at the centre of a takeover battle, is finalising a plan for its president to step down and be replaced by the company’s first foreign chief.

President Ryuichi Isaka will resign and be replaced by director Stephen Dacus, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

Dacus, an outside director since 2022, has been heading a special committee to evaluate a US$47 billion takeover bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard and a take-private deal from Seven & i’s founding family that recently collapsed.

The company is set to hold a board meeting soon to finalise the plan, Nikkei added.

A company spokesperson said the information did not come from Seven & i and that nothing had been decided.

Seven & i’s shares initially jumped as much as 4.6 per cent following the report.

The company’s founding Ito family began talks last year to take the convenience store owner private in what would have been the largest management buyout in history.

Seven & i announced last week the group failed to secure financing for what was projected to be a US$58 billion buyout. Couxche-Tard reiterated that it was committed to reaching a mutually agreeable transaction with Seven & i.

If Couche-Tard succeeds in winning control of Seven & i, it would be the biggest 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 buyout.

The retailer is separately nearing a deal to sell non-core assets to private equity firm Bain Capital, Reuters has reported. REUTERS