Japan's Seven & i decides to sell its department stores on Sept. 1

Retail giant to offload Sogo & Seibu subsidiary to U.S. investment fund

Seibu's flagship department store in Tokyo remains shuttered past the 10:00 a.m. opening time on Aug. 31 due to a strike. (Photo by Kento Awashima)

Nikkei staff writers

August 31, 2023 13:32 JST

TOKYO -- Japanese retailer Seven & i Holdings on Thursday decided to sell its department store subsidiary Sogo & Seibu to U.S. investment fund Fortress Investment Group on Sept. 1, Nikkei has learned.

At an extraordinary board meeting on Thursday, the holding company also approved its debt waiver worth about 90 billion yen ($617 million) out of about 160 billion yen in its loans to the subsidiary to help rebuild the department store business after the sale. In the meantime, Seven & i plans to focus on its convenience store business.