ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has entered into a new capital and business alliance agreement with SIGMAXYZ Holdings Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Hiroshi Ota, Representative Director and President; hereinafter “SIGMAXYZ Holdings”). ITOCHU will acquire additional shares of SIGMAXYZ Holdings by subscribing to its disposal of treasury shares through a third-party allotment and through off-market bilateral transactions. It is expected that SIGMAXYZ Holdings will become an equity-method affiliate of ITOCHU as a result of these transactions.

As generative AI and other digital technologies have progressed and the efficiency of system development activities has increased in recent years, the digital transformations (DX) of corporations are expanding beyond operational efficiency to include the transformation of their businesses and efforts to increase their competitiveness. Against this backdrop, demand is increasing for partners that work alongside clients throughout the process from the formulation of management strategies to the implementation phase of projects, including the implementation and operation of digital technologies, and for the integrated support they provide.

SIGMAXYZ Holdings is the holding company of the SIGMAXYZ Group, whose core company, SIGMAXYZ Inc., is a leading Japanese consulting firm supporting corporate transformations. The Group works to create value in a broad range of industries for a broad range of companies through initiatives that include the development of business strategies, M&A activities, the transformation of businesses and organizations, the use of digital technologies and cloud solutions, project management, the development of new businesses and the facilitation of inter-company collaboration.

Under the ITOCHU Digital Business Strategy , ITOCHU works with Group companies such as ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (hereinafter “CTC”), which designs, builds, and operates IT systems, BELLSYSTEM24, Inc., which provides customer support, marketing assistance and other comprehensive business process outsourcing (BPO) services, and AKQA UKA Inc., which designs customer experiences. Together, these companies provide integrated support spanning consulting, data analytics, business design, IT systems, and the design, development and the operation of business processes.

Since entering into a capital and business alliance agreement with SIGMAXYZ Holdings in April 2021, ITOCHU has promoted collaboration between the two groups. Through this new capital and business alliance, the companies will increase their collaboration and accelerate the integration of the SIGMAXYZ Group’s consulting capabilities in the areas of management strategy, business transformation, and technology with the system implementation and operational capabilities of the ITOCHU Group, including CTC. This will strengthen both groups’ ability to support the DX of corporations. By accelerating initiatives in the field of DX consulting, an area of growing importance in the AI era, ITOCHU will expand its upstream consulting capabilities in line with the ITOCHU Digital Business Strategy.

Under its management policy, “The Brand-New Deal: Profit opportunities are shifting downstream,” ITOCHU identifies the increasingly diverse needs of sellers, buyers, and society in an era of social change, and develops and transforms businesses, beginning in downstream areas, to expand its business domains. Through its collaboration with SIGMAXYZ Holdings, ITOCHU will continue to support companies in developing management strategies, advancing their digital transformation and transforming their businesses, and in doing so will contribute to boosting the corporate value of its client companies and creating better experiences for consumers.