Sumitomo Corporation announces that it has decided to transfer a 50% stake in subsidiary Jupiter Shop Channel Co Limited to a special purpose corporation to be established in Japan by Bain Capital Group and has entered into a stock purchase agreement.

JSC, the largest TV shopping company in Japan, has consistently increased its revenues since its founding in 1996 to achieve a market leading 30% share of the JPY 400 billion domestic TV shopping market.

Sumitomo has worked to increase the corporate value of JSC by strengthening JSC's foundation for continued robust growth and leveraging expertise acquired in Japan to facilitate JSC's expansion into the rapidly emerging markets of China and Asia. To further strengthen and promote these efforts, Sumitomo has decided to engage Bain Capital as a business partner.

Bain Capital, with operations centered in North America, Europe and Asia, is a leading private equity, with over USD 60 billion in assets under management worldwide. Since its founding in 1984, Bain Capital has dispatched many professionals to provide hands-on support for the business operations of its investments, and increased the corporate values of numerous companies through solid growth strategies using its global network.

Sumitomo will continue to place JSC at the core of its multi-channel retail strategy, headed by the Media, Network & Lifestyle Retail Business Unit, and strive to further increase the revenue base of its retail business with JSC as a primary contributor. By integrating Bain Capital's knowledge and worldwide network into the robust business foundation built by JSC over the years, Sumitomo is dedicated to further increasing JSC's corporate value through the expansion of its customer base, improvement of cost competitiveness, and promotion of expansion into Asia.

Source - Sumitomo Corporation

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