ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has additionally acquired issued shares of Oriental Shiraishi Corporation (headquartered in Koto-ku, Tokyo; Mitsuru Terui, President and CEO; hereinafter “Oriental Shiraishi”) through an on-market transaction, increasing the total equity interest to 20% and converting Oriental Shiraishi into an equity-method affiliate.

Since the formation of a capital and business alliance with Oriental Shiraishi in May 2023, ITOCHU has been driving collaborations with this company, by combining Oriental Shiraishi's sophisticated technological capabilities and construction track record, including those related to prestressed concrete and pneumatic caissons, its knowledge in the infrastructure maintenance domain mainly including bridges, with the ITOCHU Group's wide-ranging customer network, equipment procurement and logistics capabilities, as well as its extensive track record of M&A and execution ability.

ITOCHU has acquired additional shares in Oriental Shiraishi, judging that an investment of even more resources in the company will further bolster the partnership between the two companies and deepen their collaborations still further, thus helping to accelerate the business growth of Oriental Shiraishi and eventually contributing more greatly to the enhancement of its corporate value.

Going forward, ITOCHU will accelerate its collaborations with Oriental Shiraishi across a wide range of domains, such as strengthening the structure for private-public initiatives starting from bridge maintenance, leveraging equipment procurement and logistics capabilities, winning more projects in the private sector, achieving external sales of products, and implementing M&A and other growth strategies. ITOCHU will do this while respecting the autonomy and independence of Oriental Shiraishi.

Under the management policy “The Brand-new Deal — Profit opportunities are shifting downstream —,” ITOCHU will identify diversifying needs associated with a changing society, accelerate growth investment and expand its business fields. Through this initiative, ITOCHU will contribute to maintaining safe, reliable, sustainable social infrastructure.