Companies

Seven & i Aims to Maintain Independence of Management; President Isaka May Be Replaced by Board Chairman Dacus

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
Seven & i Holdings Co.’s headquarters

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:37 JST, March 4, 2025

Seven & i Holdings Co. is considering rejecting a takeover offer from a Canadian convenience store operator and aims to increase its corporate value on its own, it has been learned.

According to informed sources, the Japanese retail giant is making final adjustments for President Ryuichi Isaka, 67, to resign from his post so that it will be able to implement initiatives under a new management team.

Seven & i is considering appointing Stephen Hayes Dacus, 64, an independent outside director of the company, to replace Isaka. Dacus is currently the chairman of the board of directors of the company.

Seven & i will hold a board of directors meeting shortly to formally decide on the appointment, the sources said. If the appointment is realized, Dacus will be the first foreign national to assume the top post of the company.

Seven & i has received a takeover proposal from leading Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. To defend against the proposal, the founding family of Seven & i considered a management buyout, in which a company’s management purchases its own shares. However, the founding family gave up on the plan for financial and other reasons in February.

A special committee comprised of the company’s independent outside directors had discussed whether the company should accept the proposal or work to enhance its corporate value so as to maintain independent management without accepting the proposal.

The committee has recently decided to let the company maintain independent management, apparently because it is difficult to eliminate concerns that the proposed takeover might violate antitrust law in the United States for reasons such as Seven & i’s store network in the country overlapping with that of Couche-Tard.

Some insist that the top management of the company should be replaced in order to enhance the company’s corporate value on its own. Dacus has led discussions on the handling of the takeover proposal as the leader of the special committee. Seven & i hopes to obtain understanding from both within and outside of the company by appointing Dacus to replace Isaka.