TOKYO (Reuters) – Proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommended that Seven & i Holdings investors elect all of the dissident board candidates nominated by ValueAct Capital to lead the Japanese retailing giant.
ValueAct, which owns 4.4% of the 7-Eleven convenience store operator, has long criticized the company’s conglomerate structure and recently ratcheted up the pressure by publicly calling for President and CEO Ryuichi Isaka to be among those replaced.
“We find that the dissident nominees are generally well qualified to serve on the Seven & I board,” Glass Lewis said in a report dated on Sunday.
The firm advised against reelecting Isaka, saying the company “has significantly underperformed relative to peers and relevant market indices over the tenure of the current president.”
Last week, another proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) also backed the director candidates put forward by the U.S. investment fund.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Kim Coghill)
