Japan Post Group and Rakuten Group Agree to Capital and Business Alliance

Tokyo, March 12, 2021 – Japan Post Holdings Co.,Ltd., Japan Post Co., Ltd. and Rakuten, Inc. today signed a business alliance agreement to strengthen their collaborations across a range of fields, including logistics, mobile, digital transformation and more.

In addition, Japan Post Holdings and Rakuten announced today that the two companies have signed an agreement for the allotment of shares through an investment in Rakuten by Japan Post Holdings aimed at strengthening ties between the Japan Post Group and the Rakuten Group.

With a solid foundation built on a nationwide chain of post offices and a shipping network that covers all of Japan, the Japan Post Group serves as an essential part of social infrastructure for daily life. At the same time, the Rakuten Group provides a portfolio of more than 70 services to more than 100 million members in Japan that together make up the Rakuten Ecosystem. 

Through this new capital and business alliance, the Japan Post Group and the Rakuten Group will seek to maximize synergies by effectively leveraging the business resources and expertise of both Groups to provide greater convenience for customers, give back to local communities, and grow their businesses.

Both Groups will continue to explore the broader potential for deepening their collaborative relationship.

 
1. Business alliance overview

Both Groups will consider business alliance collaboration on the items below:

Logistics
・Creation of shared logistics centers
・Creation of shared delivery and pick-up systems
・Sharing of data held by Japan Post and Rakuten
・Joint commercialization of digital transformation platform for logistics, including the establishment of a new company
・Collaborations and initiatives between Japan Post and Rakuten to expand usage of Rakuten Fulfillment Centers and Japan Post’s “Yu-Pack” parcels

Mobile
・Utilization of post office event space to create customer counters to accept new signup applications for Rakuten Mobile and other functions
・Utilization of Japan Post Group’s delivery network to conduct marketing initiatives

Digital transformation
・Dispatch of digital transformation specialists from Rakuten Group to Japan Post Group
・Additional support from Rakuten Group to support the digital transformation of Japan Post Group

Additionally, both Groups will consider the launch of new business alliances on the following items:

Financial services
・Collaboration in cashless payments and other fields
・Collaboration in the insurance field

E-commerce
・Collaboration on product sales

In addition to the items outlined above, both Groups will discuss and consider other strategic collaborations that contribute to increased corporate value.

2. Investment overview

・Investment method: Acceptance of share subscription via third-party allotment capital increase
・Shares received: 131,004 thousand shares
・Investment amount: 149,999 million yen
・Shareholding ratio: 8.32%
・Investment payment date: Monday, March 29, 2021 (Planned)