3월 6일 CNN 기사 - 세븐엔아이 인수 시도와 새 CEO 취임

출처: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/06/business/japan-7eleven-american-ceo-intl-hnk/index.html

7-Eleven’s Japanese owner appoints American CEO to fend off $47 billion takeover bid

• fend off: 막아내다, 저지하다
  • ward off, fight off, repel
• 1st paragraph
  • Seven & I Holdings, the Japanese operator of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain, appointed its first foreign CEO and handed him the task of overhauling its business to fend off a $47 billion overseas takeover bid and engineer a recovery.
    • hand (someone) the task: ~에게 업무를 맡기다
      • assign a task, delegate resposibility
  • After a tumultuous six months that began when it received a buyout offer from Canadian Circle-K operator Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT), Seven & I announced its most far-reaching leadership and business restructuring on Thursday.
    • tumultuous: 격동의, 소란스러운
      • turbulent, chaotic, unsettled
    • buyout offer: 인수 제안
      • acquisition proposal, takeover bid
    • far-reaching: 광범위한, 영향력이 큰
      • extensive, sweeping, significant
  • Lead outside director Stephen Dacus will succeed Ryuichi Isaka as chief executive on May 27, the company said.
  • Addressing reporters in Japanese and English, Dacus said talks would continue with Couche-Tard, but significant regulatory hurdles stood in the way of a merger.
    • regulatory hurdles: 규제 장벽
      • legal obstacles, compliance issues, administrative
    • stand in the way of: ~을 방해하다, 가로막다
      • obstruct, hinder, prevent
  • “What I do not think our shareholders would want is for us to spend two plus years in limbo just for that to be rejected by the US courts,” he said.
    • in limbo: 불확실한 상태, 중간 상태
      • in uncertainty, in suspense, in a state of flux
  • Seven & I, which has more than 80,000 7-Eleven stores in 20 countries and regions, also said it agreed to sell its superstore unit to Bain Capital for 814.7 billion yen ($5.50 billion) and that it would sell down its ownership of Seven Bank to below 40%.
  • Additionally, the retail conglomerate said it will buy back about 2 trillion yen ($13.5 billion) worth of shares through fiscal year 2030, and pursue a listing of its North American convenience store subsidiary by the second half of 2026.
    • buy back: 자사주 매입하다
    • pursue a listing: 상장을 추진하다
      • seek an IPO (Initial Public Offering), prepare for a stock market debut
    • subsidiary: 자회사
      • affiliate, branch, division
    • second half: 하반기
      • latter half, last six months
  • Seven & I has been the target of investor criticism over its capital allocation for years, and in August received the ACT buyout offer that was later raised to $47 billion.
    • capital allocation: 자본 배분
      • fund distribution, investment strategy
  • In response, a group led by Seven & I’s founding Ito family mounted its own buyout offer, while the company’s management said they could chart an independent path to recovery.
    • mount an offer: 제안을 내놓다
      • make an offer, propose a deal
    • chart a path: 경로를 모색하다, 계획을 세우다
      • map out a plan, outline a strategy
  • Dacus told reporters he could identify with 7-Eleven franchisees as his father had been one, and that he’d worked the midnight shift in the store as a teenager.
    • identify with: 공감하다, 이해하다
      • empathize with, relate to, resonate with
  • The incoming CEO, who previously held executive roles with Walmart and Fast Retailing, also led a special committee vetting the takeover bids.
    • executive roles: 임원직
      • leadership positions, senior management roles
    • hold a role: 역할을 맡다, 직책을 수행하다
      • serve as, take on a role
    • vet: 검토하다, 심사하다
      • review, evaluate, assess
  • The Ito family group failed to secure a reported $58 billion in funding for its offer, scuttling the deal late last month.
    • scuttle a deal: 거래를 무산시키다
      • call off a deal, cancel the agreement, derail negotiations
  • Dacus was replaced as head of the special committee by another outside director, Paul Yonamine, the company said on Thursday.
  • Seven & I shares surged 6.1% on Thursday after Bloomberg News first reported the share buyback plan.
    • share buyback plan: 자사주 매입 계획
  • The buyback looked like an attempt to “try to lift market value and fend off” Couche-Tard, said Lorraine Tan, a regional director at Morningstar.
  • “Fundamentally, one of my immediate concerns is how they are funding the dividends and buyback,” she said.
    • dividends: 배당금
      • shareholder payouts, profit distributions
  • “It appears that they will have to rely on borrowings but we note the talk of a listing for its US business.”
  • Some analysts felt Seven & I’s restructuring plan may not derail ACT’s bid for the company.
    • dreail: 좌절시키다, 탈선시키다
      • disrupt, thwart, hinder
  • The announced divestitures leave Seven & I mainly with its convenience store businesses at home and abroad, which is what ACT really wants, said Travis Lundy, a special situations analyst who publishes on Smartkarma.
    • divestiture: 자회사 매각, 기업 분할
  • “Because the IPO is not for a while, it would suggest there is still time for ACT to make a deal for the whole shebang, assuming they can come up with a divestment package,” he said.
    • for a while: 당분간
      • for some time, in the near future
    • the whole shebang: 전체, 전부 (비격식 표현)
      • the entire thing, the whole package
    • come up with: ~을 마련하다, 생각해내다
      • devise, propose, produce
  • Bain said separately on Thursday it plans to list the superstore unit, known as York Holdings, in about three years after scaling it up through acquisitions.
  💡[요약]
  • 세븐앤아니는 ACT의 인수 시도를 막기 위해 첫 외국인 CEO 스티븐 다쿠스를 임명하고, 대규모 비즈니스 구조조정 발표
  • 사업부 매각 - 슈퍼스토어 사업부를 Bain Capital에 약 8,147억 엔에 매각하고 Seven Bank의 지분을 40% 이하로 축소할 예정
  • 자사주 매임 및 상장 계획 - 2030 회계연도까지 2조 엔 상당의 자사주를 매입, 2026년 하반기 북미 편의점 자회사 상장 계획
  • ACT의 인수시도 - 캐나다 Alimentation Couche-Tard가 약 470억$ 인수 제안을 했으나 세븐 경영진은 독립적인 회복 추진
  • 시장 반응과 분석가 의견 - 자사주 매임 발표 후 주가는 6.1% 상승, 일부 분석가들은 ACT의 인수 저지 실패 가능성을 열어두고 있음
• 2nd paragraph
  • Isaka reign criticized
    • reign: 통치, 지배
      • leadership, tenure, administration
  • Seven & I turned the humble 7-Eleven store into a popular food destination in Japan by serving up fresh sandwiches, rice balls and rows of boxed lunches, changing how millions of people eat.
    • food destination: 음식 명소, 인기 있는 식사 장소
      • go-to place for food, popular eatery
    • serve up: (음식을) 제공하다
      • offer, dish out, present
  • Isaka has been with the 7-Eleven operator since 1980, becoming its president in 2016. But his tenure has been criticized by foreign investors, including ValueAct Capital, which tried to oust him in 2023 for pursuing what it said was a flawed strategy.
    • tenure: 재임 기간
    • oust: 축출하다, 내쫓다
      • remove, overthrow, depose
  • Isaka led Seven & I’s $21 billion acquisition of Marathon Petroleum’s Speedway gas stations in 2020, outbidding ACT and greatly expanding the company’s footprint in the North American market.
    • outbid: 더 높은 가격을 제시해 이기다
      • offer more, surpass in bidding, overbid
    • expand footprint: 입지를 확장하다
      • grow presence, increase market share, establish a stronghold
  • But some analysts and investors said the company overpaid for the US assets while remaining saddled with low-margin subsidiaries in Japan, such as its superstore segment.
    • saddled with: ~를 짐 지다, 부담을 안다
      • burdened with, stuck with, weighed down by
  • “They jumped into the global market before they had a solid foundation in place,” said independent retail analyst Akihito Nakai. “In hindsight, they got the order wrong.”
    • in hindsight: 돌이켜 보면, 지나고 나서 보니
      • looking back, retrospectively, after the fact
    • get the order wrong: 순서를 잘못 잡다, 잘못된 순서로 일을 진행하다
      • misprioritize, mix things up, follow the wrong steps
  • More recently, US-based Artisan Partners urged the company to consider a competitive bidding process for takeover proposals.
  • Isaka laid out a turnaround plan in October, aiming to roughly double sales to 30 trillion yen by 2030 by expanding overseas and focusing on fresh-food offerings.
    • turnaround plan: 회생 계획, 경영 개선 계획
      • recovery strategy, restructuring plan, revitalization effort
  • Dacus indicated he would stick to the food-centered strategy, saying Seven & I was working with vendors to bring the products found in Japan to store shelves in the US.
  • “I think if we can bring that same quality of food to our stores in the US, that would be a huge and sustainable source of growth,” he said.
  • If ACT succeeds in winning control of Seven & I, it would be the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese company.
    • win control of: 경영권을 확보하다
      • gain authority over, take charge of, acquire command
  • Seven & I was classified as “core” to Japan’s national security in September, although the finance ministry said at the time it would not create hurdles for a takeover.
  💡[요약]
  • Isaka의 리더십과 비판 - 1980년부터 세븐일레븐 운영사와 함께 했으며, 2016년 사장으로 임명. 재임기간동안 외국인 투자자들 특히 ACT로부터 비판을 받았음
  • 2023년에는 Isaka를 축출하려고도 하였음
  • 미국 시장 확장과 논란 - 2020년 Isaka는 Speedway 주유소를 210억 달러에 인수하여 북미 시장에서 입지를 확보
  • 이에 대하여 과도한 비용을 수반하여 인수를 진행했다는 비판
  • 새로운 전략 - Isaka는 2030년까지 매출을 약 30조 엔, 두 배로 증가시키겠다는 계획 발표
    • 해외 시장 확장과 신선식품 중심 전략에 초점
  • 차기 CEO 스티븐 다쿠스는 이 전략을 유지하며 일본의 신선도를 유지한 고품질 식품을 미국 매장으로 가져오는데 중점을 두겠다고 발표
  • ACT가 세븐엔아이를 성공적으로 인수한다면 이는 일본 기업에 대한 최대 규모의 외국 인수가 될 것