No.10197    August 18, 2008

Suntory Group Shifts to Pure Holding Company Structure

Suntory Limited (president: Nobutada Saji) has approved at its board meeting on August 12 its plan to switch to a pure holding company structure effective as of April 1, 2009.
The change to the pure holding company structure will take place subject to the legally required procedures scheduled in January through March 2009.

The environment surrounding corporations has changed significantly and Suntory, coming into its 110th year of operation in 2009, is seeking to become a global enterprise in the liquor and food markets. To continue sustainable growth and to maximize the enterprise value of the entire Suntory Group, the company will create a new group management structure in which group management and business execution will be separated.

Under the new management structure, we will form the pure holding company, provisionally called Suntory Holdings Limited, by way of Share Transfers (Kabushiki-iten) and then place under the holding company the operating companies, such as the food company and liquor company, as well as the business support company, which consolidates common services in the group.

The holding company will reinforce the horizontal coalition of businesses and optimize management resources from the viewpoint of the group as a whole to facilitate medium and long term growth for the group overall. The company will be able to carry out strategic M&A activities and enter new businesses in growth markets in a faster and more dynamic fashion than before.

Since the operating companies will be assigned the ability to plan business strategies and the authority to execute them, they will be able to make decisions in a swifter and more flexible manner, one that is closely linked to the market and to customers. Each company will drive the growth of each business independently at its own responsibility.

The business support company will integrate the common services of operating companies and will foster specialization and efficiency improvements.