News ReleaseNotice regarding Acquisition of United Entertainment Holdings Co., Ltd. Stock
TOKYO, JAPAN, 8 06, 2014
Lawson, Inc. (Head Office: Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO, Representative Director: Genichi Tamatsuka) has sanctioned its subsidiary Lawson HMV Entertainment, Inc. (hereafter referred to as LHE) to sign a stock purchase agreement on August 6, 2014 to acquire shares in United Entertainment Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as UEH), which is the holding company for United Cinemas Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as UC) with funds serviced by Advantage Partners, LLP. The share transfer will be completed on August 28, 2014.
LHE established Lawson HMV Entertainment United Cinema Holdings, Inc. with the purpose of purchasing UEH stock. LHE subsequently plans to develop UC's movie theater business under Lawson, Inc.
Based on our Corporate Philosophy, "Creating Happiness and Harmony in Our Communities," Lawson not only seeks to fulfill local needs by providing community-based everyday products, but also to offer a variety of entertainment-related services through LHE which can bring greater enjoyment to our customers' lives.
Since LAWSON TICKET was launched in 2007, LHE has expanded to become one of the top-selling ticket services in the industry in terms of ticket sales. In 2010, Lawson purchased CD and DVD retailer, HMV Japan, with the aim of strengthening its entertainment distribution capability. This latest acquisition involves UC which operates movie theaters in 36 locations with 331 screens (including affiliated sites) as the third largest operator in Japan. By bringing UC into the Lawson corporate group, we will be looking to strengthen Lawson's activities in the entertainment field, as well as UC's own operational capabilities. The acquisition brings dynamic synergies and will further drive our entertainment business, bringing greater and better value to our customers.
Post-acquisition Initiatives
- ·We will have wider range of business opportunities with existing contents providers by adding movie theater business to the entertainment-related service of LHE.
- ·By strengthening ties with movie contents providers, we hope to encourage customers to frequent all our services across LAWSON stores, HMV stores, E-commerce and movie theaters.
- ·We plan to offer special privileges to the approximately 64 million Ponta members to encourage regular visits to the movie theaters.
- ·We will be looking to boost capacity rates at UC's movie theaters by capitalizing on LHE's network to offer live viewings, mini lives and other events.
- ·We plan to offer preferential treatment to people working for the Lawson group to further encourage workplace loyalty among our in-store staff.
[Overview of five Companies]
- United Entertainment Holdings Co., Ltd.
- Location of Head Office: 1-28, Toranomon 4-chome, Minato Ward, Tokyo
Representative: Takeshi Sasaki, President
Main Scope of Business: Hold UC stock, control and manage operations
Capital: 100 million yen
Established: May 27, 2010 - United Cinemas Co., Ltd.
- Location of Head Office: 22-24, Akasaka 2-chome, Minato Ward, Tokyo
Representative: Yoshihiko Muto, President
Main Scope of Business: Construct and manage multiplex movie theaters
Capital: 100 million yen
Established: October 7, 1999 - Lawson, Inc.
- Location of Head Office: 11-2 , Osaki 1-chome, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo
Representative: Genichi Tamatsuka, President and CEO, Representative Director
Main Scope of Business: Development of the convenience store franchise chain "LAWSON." - Capital: 58,506 million yen
Established: April 15, 1975 - Lawson HMV Entertainment, Inc.
- Location of Head Office: 11-2 , Osaki 1-chome, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo
Representative: Ken Sakamoto, President and CEO, Representative Director
Main Scope of Business: Develop a comprehensive entertainment business
Capital: 100 million yen
Established: July 23, 1992 - Lawson HMV Entertainment United Cinema Holdings, Inc.
- Location of Head Office: 11-2, Osaki 1-chome, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo
Representative: Akihito Watanabe, President and CEO, Representative Director
Main Scope of Business: Hold UEH stock, control and manage operations
Established: July 29, 2014
[Business Outlook]
As a result of this share acquisition, UEH will become a subsidiary of LHE, itself a subsidiary of Lawson, Inc. We envisage that any impact on Lawson, Inc. consolidated business performance arising from this share purchase will be minimal.
