Oji Holdings Corporation (hereinafter the “Company”) would like to announce that its Board of Directors has resolved on March 27, 2015 to approve the transfer of all the shares the Company has of Alpac Forest Products Inc. (hereinafter “AFPI”), which amounts to 30% of AFPI’s outstanding shares, to Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Co., Ltd.
The Company would also like to inform that as a consequence of this transfer, an extraordinary loss is expected to occur in the consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2015.

1. Reason for the Share Transfer
The Company has been driving forward “Deepening of the Core Businesses” as a priority measure of its management strategy. For the kraft pulp business, which is one of the core businesses, the Company has focused its investments in Celulose Nipo-Brasileira S.A.(Brazil), Jiangsu Oji Paper(China) and Carter Holt Harvey Pulp & Paper Limited (New Zealand), and will continue to develop the business with a main focus around these companies in the future.Taking into consideration the said business policy as well as a perspective of efficient use of management resources associated with selection and concentration of business activities, the Company, jointly with Mitsubishi Corporation, has reached to the conclusion that the share transfer of AFPI is the best decision.

2. Content of the Share Transfer
(1) Overview of the Equity Method Affiliated Company Subject to the Share Transfer

 

Name

Alpac Forest Products Inc.

Location

Boyle, Alberta, Canada

Representative

Osamu Terao, Chairman, President and CEO&CFO

Business line

Manufacturing of Pulp

Capital

C$ 285 million

Date of foundation

March 1998

Consolidated net assets

C$ 518,936K (FY ended December 2013)

Consolidated total assets

C$ 866,279K (FY ended December 2013)

Principal shareholders

Mitsubishi Corporation (70%), Oji Holdings Corporation (30%)

Relationships with the Company

Capital ties

The Company holds 30% of AFPI’s voting rights.

Personal ties

The Company sends two part-time directors to AFPI

Business ties

The Company buys pulp produced by AFPI

 

(2) The Purchaser and the Shareholding of the Company before and after the Share Transfer

 

Name

Hokuetsu Kishu Paper Co., Ltd.

Number of shares owned before the share transfer

5,700,000 (ownership percentage: 30%)

Number of shares transferred

5,700,000

Number of shares owned after the share transfer

0 (ownership percentage: 0%)

 

 

3. Schedule

 

Resolution by the Board of Directors

March 27, 2015 (today)

Execution of the agreements

March 31, 2015

Execution of the share transfer

mid-June (planned)

 

 

4. Future Outlook
In order to prepare for the expected loss resulting from the share transfer, the Company will post an extraordinary loss of approximately \12 billion on its consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending March 2015. In addition, the impact on the financial result forecast, together with consideration of recent business conditions, is currently under examination. If the need to revise the forecast arises, the Company will promptly disclose such information.

(Reference) Financial Result Forecasts (released date: February 6, 2015) and Results of the Previous Period

 

 

Consolidated

net sales

Consolidated operating income

Consolidated ordinary income

Consolidated

net income

Forecasts

(FY ending March 2015)

\ million

1,340,000

\ million

50,000

\ million

22,000

\ million

50,000

Results

(FY ended March 2014)

1,332,510

62,023

70,358

33,801