Following news that its CEO might be changed, shares of the Japanese company that owns the massive convenience store chain 7-Eleven surged more than 4% on Monday.
Seven & I claimed last week that its founding family had failed to assemble a white-knight buyout to thwart an Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) acquisition attempt from Canada.
Outside director Stephen Hayes Dacus, who will become Seven & I’s first foreign CEO, will succeed Ryuichi Isaka as president, according to a Monday article in Japan’s Nikkei business newspaper.
Dacus has had executive roles at Walmart and Fast Retailing, the parent company of Uniqlo, among other significant retail companies.
According to the publication, which quoted people with knowledge of the situation, a formal decision will be made during a board meeting. Isaka would also resign, according to Jiji Press.
“This was not an official announcement from our company. There is no such fact,” a Seven & i spokesman said.
Seven & i shares rose as much as 4.6 percent before paring gains to trade up just 0.1 percent mid-morning.
With around 85,000 outlets, 7-Eleven is the world’s biggest convenience store brand. The franchise began in the United States, but it has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005.
ACT, which began with one store in Quebec in 1980, now runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide including the Circle K chain.
Seven & I turned down ACT’s roughly $40 billion bid last year, which would have been the largest foreign takeover of a Japanese business in history.
Seven & I stated in November that it was examining a counter-offer from the founding Ito family, purportedly valued approximately eight trillion yen ($53 billion), even as ACT apparently softened its offering.
According to reports, the family was negotiating loans from leading Japanese banks and businesses like Itochu Corp, the parent company of the FamilyMart brand.
It was stated on Thursday, however, that it would be “difficult to procure the necessary funds” for such a buyout.
ACT continued, “we look forward to working constructively with Seven & i to reach a friendly agreement” .
When Seven & I turned down ACT’s first takeover offer in September, the company claimed it had “grossly” undervalued its company and might run afoul of the law.
