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