ITOCHU Announces Underwriting of Third-Party Allocation of New Shares by Mazda Southern Africa (PTY) Ltd

January 16, 2015

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) has agreed with Mazda Motor Corporation (headquartered in Aki-gun, Hiroshima; Masamichi Kogai, Representative Director, President and CEO; hereinafter “Mazda”) to establish Mazda Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd (hereinafter “MSA, a currently wholly owned subsidiary of Mazda), the sales company for Mazda cars in South Africa, as a joint venture between Mazda and ITOCHU.

South Africa is Mazda’s best-selling market on the African continent. In July 2013 Mazda established MSA independently with the aim of achieving further penetration of the Mazda brand in the market and strengthening and expanding sales of Mazda cars, with the company commencing operation in October 2014. Underwriting the third-party allocation of new shares implemented by MSA, ITOCHU will begin the joint operation of MSA with an investment ratio of 70% Mazda and 30% ITOCHU. It is planned to implement the underwriting as soon as approval and authorization of the Antimonopoly Law has been obtained.

The relationship between Mazda and ITOCHU in this market goes back to 1963, when Mazda entered the South African market, making this one of the longest-standing business collaboration markets for both companies. Going forward, ITOCHU will deepen its collaborative relationship with Mazda from a long-term perspective by harnessing the knowledge, experience, and networks that it has built up as a general trading company in a wide range of business domains.

MSA after merger (planned)

Company name Mazda Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd
Representative David Hughes
Head office Midrand, Republic of South Africa
Established July 2013 (operations commenced October 2014)
Capital 100 million rand (approx. 1 billion yen)
Investment ratio Mazda 70%, ITOCHU 30%
No. of employees 36(as of January 1, 2015)
URL