ITOCHU Corporation (Headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has agreed to jointly acquire all shares of SWTS Asia Pte. Ltd. (Headquartered in Singapore; hereinafter “SWTS”), which operates plant equipment maintenance business in Southeast Asia, from its management and employees together with SANKYU INC. (Headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Kimihiro Nakamura, Representative Director, President and CEO; hereinafter “SANKYU”), a company engaged in logistics, plant engineering and maintenance business.

SWTS provides maintenance services for critical equipment used in oil refineries, petrochemical plants, power plants, vessels, etc. The scale of its business makes it one of the largest business of its kind with exceptional track records in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, SWTS operates in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries with approximately 700 technical staff providing high-quality services. Leveraging its more than 50 years of history and its advanced technological capabilities, SWTS has expanded into growth areas in recent years, such as data centers and semiconductor-related facilities, and is set to continue to expand its business.

The plant and infrastructure facility maintenance business is an essential service that supports stable operations, and demand in the business is expected to be sustainable and considerably resilient to economic fluctuations. In Southeast Asia in particular, new plants are being constructed and, beyond that, the market is expected to continue to expand in consistent with the growing demand for maintenance, refurbishment, and capacity expansion services associated with the aging of existing facilities. As it has become increasingly difficult to secure skilled technicians globally, SWTS’s extensive experience and technological capabilities will enable it to contribute significantly to the growth of the ITOCHU Group.

By bringing together ITOCHU’s management expertise and global network and SANKYU’s technical capabilities, ability to mobilize labor, safety and quality control expertise, ITOCHU and SANKYU will work to increase SWTS’s competitiveness and expand its business. ITOCHU will continue to contribute to the sustainable development of society and industry through high-value-added businesses in the infrastructure field.