Artisan Partners opposes Japan retailer Seven & i's CEO choice

Reuters

Sun, Mar 9, 2025, 11:35 AM 2 min read

(Reuters) - Artisan Partners, a U.S.-based capitalist successful Seven & one Holdings, connected Sunday opposed the Japanese retailer's CEO succession program and urged the institution to reconsider a takeover offer, according to a missive to the board.

Last week, the 7-Eleven convenience store relation named Stephen Dacus arsenic CEO to pb its betterment and respond to a $47 cardinal takeover connection from Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard.

In the letter, Artisan Partners opposed Dacus's enactment and urged Seven & one to prosecute with Couche-Tard astir its buyout connection to maximize shareholder value.

Couche-Tard did not instantly respond to a Reuters petition for comment, portion Seven & one wasn't instantly disposable for remark extracurricular concern hours.

The peculiar committee and Dacus rejected Couche-Tard's connection of $18.19 per share, which astatine the clip was a premium of astir one-third from the existent stock price. However, the company's shares closed astatine $14.18 connected Friday successful Tokyo, astir 22% beneath Couche-Tard's latest offer.

The activistic capitalist said it volition ballot against Dacus astatine the company's upcoming yearly wide meeting, arsenic good arsenic against different members of the information committee.

Artisan Partners said it would besides ballot against Seven & I Vice President Junro Ito astatine the yearly wide meeting, citing his inability to unafraid financing for a $58 cardinal absorption buyout past month.

The Ito household began talks to instrumentality the convenience store proprietor backstage successful what would person been the largest absorption buyout successful past if palmy aft Seven & one received the Couche-Tard bid past year.

Artisan is among Seven & i's overseas investors that person urged the institution to absorption connected its halfway convenience store business.

(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi successful Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)