Dive Brief:

• Activist investor ValueAct is once again pressing Seven & i Holdings — the parent company of 7-Eleven Inc. and 7-Eleven Japan — about its corporate strategy, this time requesting the retailer answer a series of questions regarding its quarterly earnings presentation on April 6, according to a Sunday announcement.
• ValueAct’s questions — shared in a public letter sent to Seven & i — include why Seven & i has not pursued a previously requested spinoff of its c-store business, if the entire board of directors agrees with its current direction, why it hasn’t explored a sale of the entire company and more.
• This latest update comes one week after ValueAct submitted a shareholder motion to remove four directors from Seven & i’s board of directors after claiming Seven & i’s management has “repeatedly failed in spite of promises for synergies and structural reform.”

Dive Insight:

After receiving ValueAct’s request for Seven & i to spin off its c-store arm in January, the retailer announced in early March it had developed a new “strategy committee” to monitor the progress of its plans, which then included focusing more fully on its c-store arm and less on its broader retail and department stores

However, in Sunday’s letter, ValueAct said Seven & i’s March announcement “failed to meet expectations, continued the status quo conglomerate structure, and led to confusion and disappointment amongst stakeholders.” As a result, the function of the new strategy committee is one of the many questions ValueAct has requested Seven & i answer in its next shareholder meeting later this week.

The letter also notes that ValueAct “holds considerable doubt” regarding Seven & i’s recent Board review — which included the transfer of one of its directors and a change in its management structure — and “has little confidence in the outcome.” 

Regarding its latest list of questions, ValueAct said Seven & i should answer them fully and transparently in order to “repair trust” between the two organizations. 

“After extensive dialogue over the years, ValueAct has been unable to establish confidence in the management, their strategy, or the governance of [Seven & i],” ValueAct said in the announcement.

7-Eleven has more than 79,000 stores across 20 countries, including over 20,000 in Japan and 13,000 in the U.S.