Retail in Asia

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Japan’s Seven& I Holdings to promote Isaka to president

Seven & I Holdings Co. is poised to promote Ryuichi Isaka, head of its Seven-Eleven Japan Co. convenience store unit, to president of the holding company after activist investor Daniel Loeb intervened in an attempt to oust him, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Seven & I nomination committee endorsed Isaka, 58, in a meeting Friday. The endorsement is expected to be approved by a board of directors’ gathering Tuesday, said the source, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. Hirotake Henmi, a company spokesman, confirmed the meetings and said nothing has been decided.

Seven & I’s board came one vote short of passing a plan by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Toshifumi Suzuki to remove Isaka a week ago. The parent company is now losing its top executive of more than a decade, with Suzuki saying he will resign after the board rejected the 83-year-old’s bid to remove his subordinate.