ITOCHU Announces the Conclusion of Its Alliance with the RIZAP Group and FamilyMart in the Areas of Healthcare and Lifestyle

October 14, 2016

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it had concluded a business alliance for collaboration with RIZAP GROUP, Inc. (headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Takeshi Seto, President & CEO; hereinafter “RIZAP”) and FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Toshima-ku, Tokyo; Takashi Sawada, President & CEO; hereinafter “FamilyMart”) in the areas of healthcare and lifestyle, including food product development and sales.

As the first project of this alliance, we will sell RIZAP-supervised food products featuring low carbohydrate and other items at about 18,000 FamilyMart, Circle K and Sunkus stores across the country by the end of November 2016.

ITOCHU has long focused on the consumer-related sector, including food products and apparel, and it has established a firm position in the non-resource business sector as a sogo shosha. In particular, ITOCHU has constructed value chains with high added values that organically connect with the development of raw materials, securing, processing and manufacturing, wholesale and retail of food resources in the area of food products. It has also been active in developing health-oriented food products, the need for which has been growing in recent years. In addition, ITOCHU was selected in January of this year as a health-oriented management company in recognition of its corporate measures, including its morning-focused working system and is highly evaluated as a company with close associations to health.

The RIZAP Group provides full support for customers with one-on-one training in a private room through its subsidiary, RIZAP Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “RIZAP”), and also manages completely tailor-made exclusive training gyms supervised by doctors and national registered dietitians. RIZAP provides services for achieving the best body and self-confidence for life to more than 56,000 total customers. In addition, RIZAP also takes active measures in the area of healthcare through its partnerships with more than 100 medical organizations and its many measures in the area of lifestyle, such as the sale of food products with low sugar contents, whose taste the company is particular about, and the apparel businesses, operated by Group companies.

FamilyMart, with a network of about 24,000 stores both at home and abroad, aims to be a chain of convenience store whose mission is to be close to customers’ hearts under the slogan of Fun & Fresh, as a living infrastructure in small marketing areas. In addition, FamilyMart is also active in responding to the health-oriented needs that have been growing in recent years through life solution stores that are committed to overcoming inconveniences in the daily lives of its customers through the management of stores that integrate dispensing pharmacies and drug stores as well as through the joint development of products supervised by national registered dietitians working in hospitals and universities.

Through our conclusion of this alliance, we will make full use of ITOCHU’s information and networks in the area of lifestyle both at home and abroad, RIZAP’s know-how about body development and brand appeal in the area of health, and FamilyMart’s network of stores both at home and abroad as well as its product development capability to promote the creation of new products and services in the areas of healthcare and lifestyle, including apparel-related businesses, accessories, the area of publication , and the area of food products.

Company overview

Overview of ITOCHU Corporation

Incorporated July 2, 2001
Headquarters 5-1, Kita-Aoyama 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8077, Japan
Representative Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO
Main Business ITOCHU is involved in domestic trading, import/export, and overseas trading of various products, such as textiles, machinery, metals, energy, chemicals, food, general living products, information, and finance, as well as a broad range of businesses, such as business investment in Japan and overseas.
Common Stock 253,448 million yen

Overview of FamilyMart Co., Ltd.

Incorporated July 2, 2001
Headquarters 1-1, Higashi-Ikebukuro 3-chome, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-6017, Japan
Representative Takashi Sawada, President & CEO
Main Business Convenience store business under the franchise system.
Common Stock 8,380.40 million yen
Number of stores 24, 332 total stores (as of the end of August 2016),* including 18,240 stores in Japan and 6,092 stores overseas.
*Total of FamilyMart, Circle K and Sunkus stores

Overview of RIZAP GROUP, Inc.

Incorporated April 10, 2003
Headquarters 21-1, Kita-Shinjuku 2-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0074, Japan
Representative Takeshi Seto, President & CEO
Main Business Formulate and implement the Group’s medium- and long-term management strategies and support for the Group companies’ implementation of business strategies and the management of their business operations.
Common Stock 1,400.75 million yen
Number of stores 95 total stores (as of the end of September 2016),* including 89 stores in Japan and 6 stores overseas.
*Total of RIZAP, RIZAP GOLF and RIZAP ENGLISH