ITOCHU Announces a Capital and Business Tie-up among ITOCHU, FamilyMart, The Norinchukin Bank and National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations

March 16, 2021

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that ITOCHU, FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Kensuke Hosomi, Representative Director and President; hereinafter "FamilyMart”), The Norinchukin Bank (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Kazuto Oku, President & CEO; hereinafter "Nochu”) and the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Shuji Yamazaki, President & CEO; hereinafter "ZEN-NOH”) have entered into a business alliance agreement in and among these four parties, including FamilyMart, based on the master agreement concluded between ITOCHU and Nochu and ZEN-NOH (hereinafter the "JA Group”) on July 8, 2020.
ITOCHU also announced that Retail Investment Company, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITOCHU, has completed the transfer of 4.04% of the outstanding shares of FamilyMart stock to Nochu and 0.86% to ZEN-NOH.

In this business alliance, the parties will utilize their management resources and cooperate in the areas of (1) store development, (2) product development, (3) sale of domestic agricultural and livestock products, (4) finance, information and digital and (5) export promotion to create new synergies.

Specifically, the parties will work on community-based cooperation including the transfer of customers between the parties, achieved through the utilization of roughly 15 million customers that come daily to about 16,600 FamilyMart stores across the country and the more than 10 million members of the JA Group, the development of products and the creation of sales floors rich in local content utilizing the nationwide supply network of domestic agricultural and livestock products that is a strength of the JA Group, and the promotion of new store openings utilizing the assets and networks of each company.

In the fields of finance, information and digital, they will also promote the building of a new business model utilizing each company's store base and customer data in pursuit of customer convenience.

The parties will continue to work to contribute to regional revitalization through the creation of synergies using their management resource strengths to ensure they are all able to improve convenience and enhance their services.

Outline of each company

Name ITOCHU Corporation (Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO)
Location 2-5-1 Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business Activities General trading company
Established December 1, 1949 (Founded in 1858)
Name FamilyMart Co., Ltd. (Kensuke Hosomi, Representative Director and President)
Location 3-1-21 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business Activities Franchise system-based convenience store business
Established September 1, 1981
Name The Norinchukin Bank (Kazuto Oku, President & CEO)
Location 1-13-2 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Role Cooperative structured financial institutions across the country with agricultural, fishery and forestry cooperative organizations that contribute to the development of agricultural, fishery and forestry industries in Japan as its members.
Established December 1923
Members 3,477 organizations (As of March 31, 2020)
*Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), Japan Fishery Cooperatives (JF), Japan Forest Owners’ Cooperatives (JForest) and related federations and other agricultural, fishery and forestry cooperative organizations that invest in The Norinchukin Bank
Name National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (Shuji Yamazaki, President & CEO)
Location 1-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Role Supply of goods necessary for the businesses of the members or the businesses or livelihoods of associates and the transportation, processing and storage of goods produced by the members or associates.
Established March 1972
Members 923 organizations (as of March 31, 2020)