While Jun Nagao doesn’t like the idea of foreign companies acquiring Japanese companies, the former 7-Eleven franchise owner thinks a takeover would bring a welcome change to the retail giant where he spent decades.
Nagao, who owned a 7-Eleven supermarket in Gunma Prefecture until last year, says years of strategic missteps have left parent company Seven & I Holdings ripe for a $38.5 billion bid from Canada’s Alimentation Couche- Tard.
He is not alone in his criticism. Of the nine current 7-Eleven franchisees in Japan interviewed, almost all expressed disapproval of Seven & I’s strategy and welcomed the proposed buyout by Circle K owner Couche-Tard.
