ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today its decision to develop a further five new logistics facilities. ITOCHU is steadily accumulating assets in this business domain, and the construction of these new logistics facilities will bring the scale of the project to a total of 12 facilities (including ITOCHU’s already completed facilities), with a total project value of approximately ¥120 billion (both figures exclude properties that have already been sold).

Since 2004, ITOCHU has been engaged in the development of numerous logistics-related real estate properties, with a primary focus on the development of BTS*¹ (Build-to-Suit) logistics facilities aimed at specific customers and ITOCHU group companies. ITOCHU has delivered a range of capabilities including logistics location strategy support, planning and development of high-quality logistics facilities, and the provision of various other related services catering to the logistics-related needs of its customers; acquired through the use of its extensive network of clients, group companies and other business partners (numbering up to around 100,000 companies) in a wide-range of business domains as a sogo shosha (or “general trading company”).

The provision of related services entails catering to a wide range of customer needs, leveraging ITOCHU’s strengths in a wide-range of business domains as a sogo shosha and its involvement in logistics and distribution to offer logistics operations capabilities, building management, logistics equipment and devices, logistics warehouse management systems, packing and packaging materials, and various other services. As the logistics market and systems continue to diversify rapidly, ITOCHU considers its ability to provide various solutions and capabilities as a sogo shosha to be a key competitive advantage.

ITOCHU believes that it can utilize these capabilities and know-how, together with its wide-ranging customer network of group companies and clients, not only in the area of BTS logistics facilities (where ITOCHU’s main strength in this business domain currently lies), but also in the area of multitenant*² logistics facilities, in which ITOCHU has started to engage in recent years.

In 2015, ITOCHU’s construction and logistics teams, which were engaged respectively in logistics-related real estate development and logistics operations, combined to form the Construction & Logistics Division; enabling ITOCHU to deliver even more effective user-viewpoint oriented facility planning, product planning and solutions capabilities than ever before. This division also incorporates realty development, building management, logistics operation and asset management companies under its umbrella; a setup that enables it to drive its operations forward effectively, utilizing the total capabilities of the ITOCHU Group.

Moving forward, the ITOCHU Group plans to make maximum effective use of these strengths to develop more logistics facilities, with the aim of achieving an annual project value of around ¥20–30 billion per year, through the provision of facilities and services that will satisfy the needs of its customers.