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Seven & i Holdings, the retail giant at the centre of Japan’s biggest takeover battle, is finalising plans to replace current president and chief executive Ryuichi Isaka with its first foreign boss, according to people familiar with the matter.
Stephen Dacus, lead independent director and head of the company’s special committee responsible for evaluating a $47bn takeover approach from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, is likely to take the top job at the owner of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain in the coming months, the people said.
Dacus and the special committee are expected over the next few weeks to unveil strategic proposals to increase the company’s value ahead of an annual shareholder meeting in May, one person added.
Dacus’s own appointment could also be confirmed at the meeting.
The latest development comes just days after Seven & i’s founding Ito family abandoned a rival $58bn buyout due to issues over financing.
Its collapse caused the company’s shares to slump as its options narrowed to Couche-Tard’s takeover bid or forging its own path, most probably under a new leader.
Isaka was appointed head of Seven & i in 2016 and led a $21bn acquisition of Speedway, the US fuel and convenience store chain. However, the takeover attempt by Couche-Tard has cast a shadow on his tenure as it threatens to put one of Japan Inc’s crown jewels under foreign ownership.
The 67-year-old Isaka is expected to become a special adviser to Dacus after he steps down.
Seven & i said that it had not made an announcement and nothing was yet to be formally decided. Nikkei first reported on the expected succession.
Masatoshi Ito, who established the big box retailer Ito-Yokado, and Toshifumi Suzuki, his business partner, built Seven & i into a global retail giant. Isaka followed Suzuki as CEO after he resigned nine years ago.
The retail conglomerate has come under pressure from activist investors to focus on the highly profitable 7-Eleven convenience stores and sell the big box business that the Ito family started.
Dacus has been lauded for how he has improved corporate governance at Seven & i, becoming chair of the board in 2024, after the group came under pressure from activist fund ValueAct Capital Management.
The US national was previously chief executive of Walmart Japan and senior vice-president of Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo.
However, investors have remained concerned about governance at the company while Dacus has dealt with the Couche-Tard approach, as the identities of no other members of the special committee have been publicly disclosed.
