Second Proxy Advisor Backs ValueAct Capital's Nominees for Seven & i Board

SAN FRANCISCO — ValueAct Capital's pitch to replace a portion of the Seven & i Holdings' board of directors continues to gain support.

Proxy advisory services company Glass Lewis recommended that investors elect all of the candidates nominated by ValueAct during the upcoming shareholder vote.

"We find that the dissident nominees are generally well qualified to serve on the Seven & i board," the proxy advisor stated in a May 14 report.

Glass Lewis advised against reelecting Seven & i President and CEO Ryuichi Isaka, who it claimed "has significantly underperformed relative to peers and relevant market indices over the tenure of the current president."

This recommendation comes less than a week after Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a leading proxy and corporate governance advisory firm, recommended that shareholders vote against five of five of Seven & i's board of directors nominees and in favor of all four of ValueAct's nominees, which would shift the balance of leadership in the 14-member board.

The vote will take place during the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on May 25.

[Read more: Seven & i Holdings Reaffirms Commitment to Convenience]

Seven & i Holdings previously pushed back against ValueAct's nomination slate, which includes Brittni Levinson, ValueAct's sustainability chief, and Dene Rogers, a former RadioShack and Sears executive. The board cited a lack of experience in significant business transformation as a reason not to support ValueAct's nominees.

However, San Francisco-based ValueAct holds that adding its nominees to the board of directors and removing the president and his supporters would allow the board to execute a pro-governance, pro-stakeholder mandate.

Additionally, ISS stated in its recommendation that three of ValueAct's nominees "bring relevant board, capital allocation and executive experience, while Levinson, as a direct representative of the dissident, would provide a shareholder perspective and the link to ValueAct's extensive research capabilities and experience effecting change."

Seven & i Holdings is the parent company to Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven Inc., which operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 13,000 stores in the United States and Canada. In addition to 7-Eleven stores, the company operates and franchises Speedway, Stripes, Laredo Taco Co., and Raise the Roost Chicken and Biscuits locations.