The company said it will pursue an initial public offering of its 7-Eleven convenient store business in the US in the second half of 2026. In addition, it struck a deal to sell its superstore business for $5.37 billion to a unit of Bain Capital — making money available to fund a ¥2 trillion ($13.4 billion) share buyback. Seven & i will also divest its banking unit holdings.
Seven & i shares jumped as much as 10% before closing 6% higher on Thursday, the most since November, after Bloomberg News reported that a share buyback would be announced. The effort is aimed at reversing a sharp decline of 20% this year.The flurry of moves comes as the Japanese retail conglomerate faces growing pressure to engage with Couche-Tard or find ways to boost the value of its famous brand on its own. A management buyout plan that would take the company private, led by the founding Ito family, fell apart last month, narrowing the retailer’s options.
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Seven & i had rebuffed an earlier, lower offer by the Canadian operator of Circle K stores, saying that it undervalued the company. But the Japanese company is yet to respond to Couche-Tard’s revised offer to pay $18.19, or ¥2,777, per share, nor give it access to financial information as is normal procedure in deal negotiations.
The company this week said it’s still “constructively engaging” with Couche-Tard on its buyout proposal, after the Ito family officially announced that it failed to secure funding to move forward.
The 64-year-old Dacus, who’s worked for decades in the Japanese retail industry and is a fluent Japanese speaker, will now oversee the talks with Couche-Tard.
The takeover approach had prompted the Japanese retailer to embark on a plan to split Ito-Yokado stores, supermarkets and retail outlets into a unit called York Holdings — something that investors including ValueAct Capital Management LP had urged for years.
Dacus will be the first non-Japanese CEO of the company and comes with years of experience advising Japanese companies abroad. His retail career started at Mars Inc. in 1996, reaching a peak of becoming the CEO of its condiment unit MasterFood in 2001. Dacus later became a senior vice president of Japanese apparel giant Fast Retailing Co. in 2005 and the head of Walmart Inc.’s Japan unit in 2011, currently Seiyu Holdings Co.
He also ran Hana Group SAS, a supplier of freshly prepared pan-Asian dishes, served as an outside director of Food & Life Companies Ltd. and is the chairman of the US unit of Japanese retailer Daiso Industries Ltd.
