ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) today announced that cocokara fine Inc. (headquartered in Kohoku-ku, Yokohama; Atsushi Tsukamoto, President; hereinafter “cocokara fine”), ITOCHU, and Alfresa Holdings Corporation (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Denroku, Ishiguro, Representative Director & President; hereinafter “Alfresa”) have agreed with CDFY Pharmacy Chain Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “CDFY”); a pharmaceutical distribution subsidiary of Liaoning Chengda Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Liaoning Chengda”), to establish a joint venture that will operate drugstore business in northeastern China.

cocokara fine is promoting the expansion of its drugstore business overseas, mainly in Southeast Asia, as one of its medium-term management strategies, under its corporate philosophy of “contributing to local communities by pursuing people’s mental and physical health.” cocokara fine has been operating stores in coastal areas of China where growth is expected to continue, through shanghai cocokara fine inc., which was established in 2012.

ITOCHU established Beijing ITOCHU-Huatang Comprehensive Processing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “BIC”) in 1997 to operate the general wholesale business of cosmetics, daily commodities, and sundries mainly for Japanese companies through a total of 13 bases in the coastal area and inland cities. Additionally, ITOCHU and Alfresa established Remeje Pharmaceuticals (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Remeje”) in 2005; a joint venture that mainly supplies Japanese pharmaceutical and healthcare products. Both companies and Liaoning Chengda have concluded the “basic agreement for comprehensive business ties” in March 2011. Since then, the three companies have been considering operating Japanese-style drugstores in China in collaboration with CDFY; which operates approximately 900 pharmacies in China.

As such, the four companies (cocokara fine, ITOCHU, Alfresa and CDFY) have agreed to establish a joint venture to promote the operation of Japanese-style drugstore business in the six regions: including three northeastern provinces (Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang), Hebei, Shandong and Inner Mongolia. The four companies have come to an agreement based on the judgment that they can operate Japanese-style drugstores in China at an accelerated pace: by leveraging cocokara fine’s expertise in operating such stores, CDFY’s expertise in the pharmacy business in China, and the function of BIC and Remeje for supplying Japanese products, etc.

Outline of the joint venture

Outline of relevant companies

Liaoning Chengda Co., Ltd.

CDFY Pharmacy Chain Investment Co., Ltd.

cocokara fine Inc.

ITOCHU Corporation

Alfresa Holdings Corporation