Mitsubishi and Ryobi Sign a Letter of Intent

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery, Ltd. (Masami Shimizu, president) and Ryobi Limited (Akira Urakami, president and COO) herein announce signing a Letter of Intent, dated January 23, 2013, for a joint study on business alliance for commercial printing machinery business.

1. Purpose of the agreement
Both companies have been producing and selling sheetfed offset printing presses (*1) and facing the stiffer market situation with the shrinking demand especially in developed countries due to the recent global economic crisis. This has led both companies to promote structural reforms to sustain competitiveness in the market and financial soundness as well.

As part of the further efforts in strengthening corporate structure, both companies agreed to study on establishing business alliance in the field of sheetfed offset printing press business with a possible set up of a joint venture company in future specifically aiming at improving competitiveness of sheetfed offset printing machinery, enhancing the scale of operations, and solidifying its management base.

It is expected in the commercial printing industry that the market demand for printing machinery in the developing countries is getting stronger, and the demand for higher specification products is expected to grow further in the global market.

Both companies from now on jointly study the scheme that allows significant synergy effects such as enhancement of product line-up, enlargement of product development capability, reduction of product cost, and improvement in sales and service networks. The plan is expected to enable the stronger presence in the global market.

(*1) "Sheet-fed offset printing press" means a printing machine which prints high quality visual image on cut out paper sheets.

2. Overview of Both Companies
Ryobi Limited
762 Mesaki-cho, Fuchu-shi, Hiroshima, Japan
Akira Urakami, President and COO
Die-cast products
Printing equipment
(Offset printing presses, Peripherals, etc.)
Power tools
(Electric power tools, lawn and garden equipment, etc.)
Builders’ hardware
(Door closers, hinges, architectural hardware, etc.)
Capital 18,472 million yen
Established December 16, 1943
Number of Employees (As of September 30, 2012) 2,111
Relationship between Both Companies: No relationship in capital, personnel, and trading as of now

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Paper & Packaging Machinery, Ltd.
1-1-1, Itozaki Minami, Mihara-shi, Hiroshima, Japan
Masami Shimizu, President
Sheet-fed offset printing presses
Commercial web offset printing presses
Newspaper offset printing presses
Paper Converting Machinery
Capital 10,000 million yen
Date of Establishment April 6, 2004
Number of Employees (As of September 30, 2012) 834
Relationship between Both Companies: No relationship in capital, personnel, and trading as of now

3. Schedule
Both parties aim to conclude a final agreement in this respect by June 30, 2013.

Source: Mitsubishi and Ryobi.