Seven & I Plans Leadership Change, President Isaka Set to Step Down

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Seven & I Holdings, the Japanese retail conglomerate embroiled in a takeover struggle, is preparing a plan for its president to step down and be succeeded by the company’s first foreign CEO. 

Ryuichi Isaka, the current president, is set to resign and be replaced by Stephen Dacus, a director who has been with the company since 2022. Dacus has also led a special committee evaluating a $47 billion takeover proposal from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard, alongside a failed bid by Seven & I's founding Ito family to take the company private. 

A board meeting is expected soon to finalize this decision, though a company spokesperson clarified that the information has not come from Seven & I, and no decisions have been made yet.

Following the report, Seven & I’s shares surged by up to 4.6%. 

Discussions for the founding family’s buyout attempt started last year and would have been the largest management buyout in history. However, Seven & I recently announced that it was unable to secure financing for the $58 billion deal. Meanwhile, Couche-Tard has reaffirmed its commitment to reaching a mutually agreeable deal.

If the Canadian company succeeds, the acquisition would be the largest-ever takeover of a Japanese firm. 

Seven & I was designated as "core" to Japan’s national security in September, but the finance ministry indicated that the buyout would not face significant obstacles.

Additionally, Seven & I is close to finalizing a deal to sell its non-core assets to private equity firm Bain Capital, according to reports.

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author