TOKYO, March 3 (Reuters) -

Seven & i Holdings ( SVNDF ), the Japanese retail giant at

the centre of a takeover battle, is finalising a plan for its

president to step down, mostly likely to be replaced by its

first foreign chief, two people familiar with the matter said.

President Ryuichi Isaka will resign and his replacement is

almost certain to be director Stephen Dacus, said the people,

who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the

matter. The Nikkei business daily first reported the development

on Monday.

Dacus, an outside director since 2022, heads a special

committee to evaluate a $47 billion takeover bid from Canada's

Alimentation Couche-Tard ( ANCTF ) and a take-private deal from

Seven & i's ( SVNDF ) founding family that recently collapsed.

The company will hold a board meeting on Thursday to make

the final decision, one of the sources said.

A company spokesperson said that the information from

the Nikkei did not come from Seven & i ( SVNDF ) and that nothing had been

decided.

Isaka has been with the 7-Eleven convenience store operator

since 1980, becoming its president in 2016. But his reign has

been criticised by foreign investors, including ValueAct

Capital, which tried to oust him, and more recently by Artisan

Partners.

Seven & i's ( SVNDF ) shares initially jumped as much as 4.6% after

the report. They were up 1% at the midday break.

The company's founding Ito family began talks last year

to take the convenience store owner private in what would have

been the largest management buyout in history.

Seven & i ( SVNDF ) said last week that the group had failed to

secure financing for what was projected to be a $58 billion

buyout. Couche-Tard reiterated that it was committed to reaching

a mutually agreeable transaction with Seven & i ( SVNDF ).

If Couche-Tard succeeds in winning control of Seven & i ( SVNDF ),

it would be the biggest takeover of a Japanese company.

Seven & i ( SVNDF ) 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 buyout.

The retailer is separately nearing a deal to sell

non-core assets to private equity firm Bain Capital, Reuters has

reported.