We at ITOCHU Corporation have invested in the Minerva No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership (hereinafter referred to as the “Fund”), an investment fund whose main business fields are education, publication, and science, and others applying new technologies such as multimedia and information communications.

Academia Co., Ltd (headquartered in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; Shunji Tanefusa, President; hereinafter referred to as “Academia”) serves as the unlimited liability partner and operates the Fund, which contains a total of JPY5,500,000,000 in investment. Aside from ITOCHU, its limited liability partners include Kawaijuku Educational Institution, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., and other institutional investors.

1. Background

In Japan, the recent trends of falling birthrates and population aging are reflected in a continuing decline in the number of children and students, but circumstances hold promising opportunities for education-related investment. For example, many homes are unsatisfied with the quality of education provided in public schools, and there have been several cases of merger and acquisition involving preparatory "juku" schools since 2005. Meanwhile, with the spread of the Internet and advances in multimedia communications technologies utilizing DVDs, unprecedented new educational services are beginning to be offered. Furthermore, the future holds the prospect of an expansion of business exploiting opportunities associated with more extensive corporate outsourcing of employee education and consignment of tests for official qualifications to the private sector.
The Fund is anticipated to assist the emergence of new education industries and contribute to society as a whole through investment for promotion of such trends in education, publication, and science as well as backing for the firms doing business in the related areas.

2. Objective of entry into the education field

We at ITOCHU have positioned the healthcare and living service area as a pillar of our earnings in Frontier—2006, our mid-term management plan, and are actively taking up the challenge of developing business in it. Within this area, we have ranked the education market alongside the fields of health and medicine as domains with a potentially high growing power. Similarly, we are closely watching developments in education contents, which we believe have a close affinity with broadband services, like games and animated contents.
In 2000, we established go to school.com Inc. as a joint venture with Kawaijuku, and launched business in arrangements for cyber entrance applications, solutions for universities, and related advertising.
Through our participation in the Fund, we will get investment chances for wider educational fields, and aim to create business opportunities for linking our e-business and IT activities with those of enterprises that are investment destinations, in fields that fuse the education and information industries (such as e-learning and distribution of education contents).

3. Outline of the Fund

• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004