Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ Announces Partial Stock Transfer of MAGASEEK Corporation, Operator of General Fashion Websites

January 30, 2013

Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Okafuji, President & CEO; hereinafter ¡°Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¡±) announced today its decision to sell part of its shares of MAGASEEK Corporation (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Naoya Inoue, President & Representative Director; hereinafter ¡°MAGASEEK¡±), one of Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ¡¯s consolidated subsidiaries, to NTT DOCOMO, INC. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Kaoru Kato, President & CEO; hereinafter ¡°NTT DOCOMO¡±) in response to the takeover bid by NTT DOCOMO. Following the partial stock sale, Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ will hold 25% of MAGASEEK¡¯s outstanding shares and MAGASEEK will be an equity-method affiliate of Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ.

MAGASEEK operates fashion e-commerce website focused on collaboration with fashion magazines¡¯ exposure under the name MAGASEEK, and also operates Japan¡¯s one of the largest fashion outlet e-commerce website under the name OUTLET PEAK. MAGASEEK was established in 2003 as a pioneer in fashion e-commerce. In 2006, it achieved listing on the Mothers market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and thereafter continued steady growth. In 2012, it implemented a complete revamping of its websites. Following the concept of ¡°Select Shops for You,¡± it gains support from many different categories of customers consisting mainly of women in their 20s and 30s.

NTT DOCOMO is Japan¡¯s largest cell phone carrier, serving around 60 million subscribers. For future expansion into new business domains to provide and contain customers¡¯ smart-life, it is working vigorously to expand its business into commerce. Since many business synergies are expected from a combination of NTT DOCOMO¡¯s diverse expertise in mobile services and its cloud services with a certain scale of clientele that MAGASEEK has in its fashion online shopping business, NTT DOCOMO decided to launch a takeover bid for MAGASEEK¡¯s outstanding common shares with a view to making the company into a subsidiary.
Regarding this takeover bid as an optimal opportunity for further speeding up MAGASEEK¡¯s growth by gaining NTT DOCOMO, a leader in the mobile industry that holds firm system infrastructure, as a partner to jointly work on the fashion e-commerce business, Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ decided to respond to the takeover bid.

In the future, Ïã½¶ÊÓÆµ will make the most of its extensive expertise and networks in the fashion industry and the brand business that it has long nurtured, and combine NTT DOCOMO¡¯s technical strength in telecommunications and its customer base with MAGASEEK¡¯s merchandising and distribution functions in a bid to further expand business in the fashion e-commerce market.

Overview of MAGASEEK Corporation

Company name  MAGASEEK Corporation
Representative Naoya Inoue, President & Representative Director
Head office 2-1 Nishi Kanda 3-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Established April 1, 2003
Established

Sale of women’s and men’s clothing on the Internet, etc.