7-Eleven to replace CEO in Couche-Tard takeover battle: reports [Video]

7-Eleven’s owner is set to replace its CEO as the Japanese convenience store giant battles a $47-billion takeover bid by Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT), reports said Monday.

Last week Seven & i said its founding family failed to put together a buyout to fend off ACT’s offer, which would be the largest foreign acquisition of a Japanese firm.

Japan’s Nikkei business daily and other media reported that Seven & i’s president Ryuichi Isaka would be replaced by outside director Stephen Hayes Dacus.

Dacus, who has also worked for Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing and the Japanese arm of US retail giant Walmart, would also be Seven & i’s first foreign CEO.

A formal decision will be made at a board meeting, the reports said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Dacus currently heads a special committee tasked with evaluating ACT’s bid, which the Canadian firm has already sweetened.

Dacus and the …