(Bloomberg) — Seven & i Holdings Co. will appoint board member Stephen Dacus as the chief executive officer to replace Ryuichi Isaka, the Nikkei newspaper reported citing unidentified sources, in changes seen as a renewed effort to prevent the Japanese retailer’s takeover.
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Dacus, who worked for decades in the Japanese retail industry, is currently leading a special committee evaluating a proposed takeover by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. He will be the first non-Japanese CEO of the company that operates the 7-Eleven convenience stores.
Seven & i, in a statement, said no decision has been made regarding this matter. “Although some media outlets have reported on our management structure, this was not announced by our company,” according to the statement on Monday.
While foreign leaders have had a mixed track record in Japan, a management change at Seven & i will come at a key point for the retailer. The founding Ito family‘s plan to take the company private to avoid being taken over by Couche-Tard collapsed last week, piling pressure on it to reconsider the Canadian retailer’s nearly $47 billion takeover proposal.
Dacus joined as an external member of Seven & i’s board in 2022 when it was revamped amid pressure from activist investor ValueAct Capital Management LP to focus on convenience stores. He was previously senior vice president of Japanese apparel marker Fast Retailing Co. and the Japan head of Walmart Inc., currently Seiyu Holdings Co. according to the Seven & i website.
The change appears to show Seven & i is keen to remain independent and is hoping that Dacus can formulate a viable plan to improve earnings including considering the benefit of the Couche-Tard’s bid, said Lorraine Tan, an equities analyst at Morningstar Asia Ltd.
“Execution risks remain, but the first step would be to have a reasonable plan,” she said, adding it should be positive to the company.
Shares briefly extended gains after the report, rising as much as 4.6% before paring. The stock plunged 12% Thursday after the Ito family and Itochu Corp.’s ¥9 trillion counter buyout plan collapsed last week.
Isaka took the helm in 2016, with the backing of an activist investor Daniel Loeb, founder of Third Point LLC after a boardroom struggle with the prior CEO.
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