ITOCHU Enters into Comprehensive Partnership with Indiana State Government

- Indiana State Government’s First Partnership with the Japanese Private Sector -

March 30, 2010

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Eizo Kobayashi; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic partnership with the government of the State of Indiana in the United States, aimed at commercializing Indiana's industry initiatives a. This is the first time that the Indiana State Government has entered into a comprehensive partnership with a Japanese corporation.

Primary focus will be in the following four areas, based on LINEs set out in ITOCHU’s medium-term management plan Frontiere 2010:

  1. Life sciences (healthcare, medical devices)
  2. Advanced technologies, manufacturing process and bio/nano technologies
  3. Renewable energy
  4. Agriculture

ITOCHU, together with its U.S. subsidiary ITOCHU International Inc., will aim to promote commercialization projects in the areas of services, products, and technologies being developed by outstanding Indiana companies, universities, and research institutions in the four areas mentioned above. Moreover, in efforts to contribute to the development of the state’s economy and industry, together, ITOCHU will also launch a number of energy storage and smart grid projects together with the State of Indiana . ITOCHU will begin by introducing leading Japanese smart grid technologies to Indiana as well as to other New Green Deal projects in the United States.

ITOCHU has been partnering with Indiana-based EnerDel in manufacturing and selling lithium ion batteries. It has also been actively involved in the clean energy business. In the Joint Demonstration Project on Low Carbon Transportation System Using Clean Energy which ITOCHU will be launching this spring, electric vehicles equipped with EnerDel’s lithium ion batteries, EnerDel’s storage batteries and photovoltaic units will be used to conduct demonstration designed to achieve a low carbon transportation system. Based on the results of these initiatives, ITOCHU will seek to commercialize and industrialize clean energies and related leading-edge technologies, as the first stage of its partnership with the State of Indiana.

LINEs

LINEs is the acronym for Life Care, Infrastructure, New Technologies & Materials, Environment & New Energy and synergy.

State of Indiana

The State of Indiana has a population of 6.3 million (the 16th largest in the United States). Its main industries are agriculture, auto parts and pharmaceuticals products. As a water and land transport hub, known familiarly as the Crossroads of America, many manufacturing businesses have located in the state and about 30% of its working population is in manufacturing. There are 700 companies operating in the automotive sector.