In a major restructuring Seven & i Holdings, parent company of 7-Eleven, said Thursday that Stephen Dacus will become its new President and CEO May 27 replacing Ryuichi Isaka. The company will also pursue a 7-Eleven IPO and announced a $13.2 billion stock buyback. File photo by Andrew Gombert/EPA-EFE
In a major restructuring Seven & i Holdings, the parent company of 7-Eleven, said Thursday that Stephen Dacus will become its new President and CEO May 27 replacing Ryuichi Isaka.
The company will also pursue a 7-Eleven IPO and announced a $13.2 billion stock buyback. The stock buyback will be funded by the sale of Superstore Business Group and the IPO. Advertisement
The restructuring comes as Seven & i Holdings fights off a $47 billion takeover bid by Alimentation Couche-Tard.
“The Group is executing key actions that are concrete, actionable, and value accretive. We have been on a journey to explore opportunities that create the most value for our shareholders and enhance our customers’ experiences around the world,” Current President Isaka said in a statement. “This is the right time to move these initiatives forward, and the management team is excited to execute our transformation strategy while remaining focused on identifying avenues to continue driving shareholder value.”
Isaka will stay on as a senior advisor to Seven & i Holdings.
“The initiatives management has announced today are crucial steps in simplifying our Group structure and unlocking shareholder value. As there is no assurance that a third-party transaction will ever become actionable or be in the best interest of the Group’s shareholders and other stakeholders, the Special Committee fully endorses these management initiatives to unlock shareholder value at this time,” Dacus said in a statement. Advertisement
The company said these are “transformational leadership, capital, and business initiatives to enhance focus on its convenience store business and unlock and distribute significant value to shareholders.”
Dacus is Chairman of the Board and former chair of the Special Committee evaluating the ACT takeover bid. He left that role on March 5.
He said the company is still exploring “active and constructive engagement with ACT and will continue to do so.”
A divestiture package is being explored that could address potential antitrust issues in the United States.
But Dacus said at a Thursday press conference the high regulatory hurdles remain, while Isaka said he hopes Dacus would move to raise the company’s share price to make the ACT takeover more difficult.
The CEO change happened after an attempted management buyout of Seven & i Holdings failed to raise enough money. That attempted buyout was to stave off the acquisition by ACT, a Canadian company.
After that effort failed news broke March 3 that Isaka would step down to be replaced by Dacus.
