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By Ritsuko Shimizu
TOKYO (Reuters) -Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese retail giant at the centre of a takeover battle, is finalising a plan for its chief executive to step down, mostly likely to be replaced by its first foreign chief, two people familiar with the matter said.
Ryuichi Isaka, who also serves as president, will resign and his replacement is almost certain to be director Stephen Dacus, said the people, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. The Nikkei business daily first reported the development on Monday.
Dacus, an outside director since 2022, heads a special committee to evaluate a $47 billion takeover bid from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard and a take-private deal from Seven & i's founding family that recently collapsed.
The company will hold a board meeting on Thursday to make the final decision, one of the sources said.
Seven & i said in a statement that media reports about its management did not come from the company and that nothing had been decided.
Dacus has headed Seiyu Holdings and held positions at Fast Retailing and Food & Life Companies.
"As an external director, he's familiar with the discussions we've had so far (over Couche-Tard's takeover proposal)," one of the sources said, adding that he was best placed to accelerate Seven & i's growth strategy overseas.
Dacus is set to be replaced as head of the special committee by another outside director, Paul Yonamine, the Nikkei reported.
Isaka has been with the 7-Eleven convenience store operator since 1980, becoming its president in 2016. But his reign has been criticised by foreign investors, including ValueAct Capital, which tried to oust him in 2023 for pursuing a "flawed strategy."
More recently, U.S.-based Artisan Partners has urged the company to consider a competitive bidding process for takeover proposals. The fund declined to comment on reports of management change at the company.
Isaka has said the company's management can turn things around, aiming to roughly double sales to 30 trillion yen ($199.51 billion) by 2030 by expanding overseas and focusing on fresh food offerings.
Seven & i's shares initially jumped as much as 4.6% after the report. They were up 1.8% in afternoon trading.
The company's founding Ito family began talks last year to take the convenience store owner private in what would have been the largest management buyout in history.
Seven & i said last week that the group had failed to secure financing for what was projected to be a $58 billion buyout. Couche-Tard reiterated that it was committed to reaching a mutually agreeable transaction with Seven & i.
If Couche-Tard succeeds in winning control of Seven & i, it would be the biggest takeover of a Japanese company.
Seven & i was classified as "core" to Japan's national security in September, although the finance ministry said at the time it would not create hurdles for a buyout.
The retailer is separately nearing a deal to sell non-core assets to private equity firm Bain Capital, Reuters has reported.
($1 = 150.3700 yen)
(Reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu, additional reporting by Rocky Swift and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Gerry Doyle)
