7-Eleven parent company pressured to remove four directors

7-Eleven parent company Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. is getting pressure from one of its owners to remove four directors from the company’s 14-member board.

San Francisco-based investment company ValueAct Capital, which owns 4.4% of Seven & i Holdings, said in a letter that it is growing increasingly frustrated over the lack of strategy that includes fast growth and improved profitability and market valuation. ValueAct also wants the company to complete a tax-free spinoff of 7-Eleven through a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in about one year. Seven & i Holdings is headquartered in Japan.

ValueAct has not publicly named the four directors it wants terminated, but the letter indicates those individuals were involved in a failure to disclose a reported acquisition proposal to the company in 2020. The letter delivered to Seven & i Holdings also links the group to a failure to conduct an objective succession review and the failure to conduct an independent strategic review in line with governance best practices.

Seven & i Holdings said it is reviewing the letter and will consider the contents of the proposal.

ValueAct Capital supported a move to add six new directors to the Seven & i Holdings board last year.