Notice Regarding Transfer of Shares in Consolidated Subsidiaries

February 20, 2015
 
Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) hereby announces that its shares (70% of all outstanding stock) held in its consolidated subsidiary Alpac Forest Products Inc. (AFPI) and its shares (100% of all outstanding stock) held in Alpac Pulp Sales Inc. (APSI) will be transferred to Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Co., Ltd. (Hokuetsu Kishu) The decision was made at the company’s Board of Directors meeting on February 20, 2015.
 
1.     Reasons for Share Transfer
AFPI manufactures pulp from a broad area covering 6.4 million hectares of high-quality forest granted by the provincial government of Alberta, Canada. Originally, MC partnered with Oji Holdings Corporation and established AFPI in March 1998, to provide a stable supply of pulp and paper raw materials to paper companies in Japan. However, the demand structure has been changing in recent years, with most sales destinations now concentrated in North America which has ultimately become a difficult situation for MC to exert its synergy effect. In line with the New Strategic Direction, MC’s corporate strategy released in 2013, MC has since been accelerating divestments of its assets. In that context, with consideration of the business environment surrounding AFPI, as well as the direction of AFPI’s business, MC has assessed that a transfer of AFPI shares to Hokuetsu Kishu, where trends reveal an expansion in its upstream activities, would be the most appropriate decision. Likewise, shares held in APSI, which undertakes sales activities for pulp produced by AFPI, will also be transferred to Hokuetsu Kishu for the aforementioned reasons.
 
2.     Outlines of Subsidiaries to be transferred
3.     Outline of Purchaser (as of March 31, 2014)
4.     Details regarding value of shares and number of shares held before and after transfer
5.     Schedule
 
6.     Business Outlook
 
The current transaction is expected to have negligible impact on MC’s consolidated performance.
 

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Mitsubishi Corporation
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