Notice of Transfer of Chromatography Business

Shiseido Company, Limited (hereinafter, Shiseido) hereby announces that it has reached an agreement on transferring the shares of its consolidated subsidiary, Shiseido Irica Technology Inc. (hereinafter, Irica Technology) and the assets associated with the chromatography business*1 owned by Shiseido to OSAKA SODA Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, Osaka Soda).

1.Background

Shiseido Group has been revisiting the business portfolio in order to realize its VISION 2020 business plan. While selecting the key businesses for investment, Shiseido has decided to transfer the shares of Irica Technology that operates the chromatography business.
Pursuant to the transaction, Irica Technology will succeed to the rights and obligations related to Shiseido’s chromatography business through corporate demerger (absorption-type split), and Irica Technology’s shares will be transferred to Osaka Soda. The details of the corporate demerger (absorption-type split) will be disclosed in due course.

By integrating the chromatography-related businesses that both Osaka Soda and Shiseido own, Osaka Soda expects to establish a consistent value chain, from production of packing materials*2 to sales of columns*3 and analytical equipment. In addition, the company aims to deliver further growth and enhance the value of chromatography business through utilization of Osaka Soda’s global distribution network.

*1 Chromatography Business: Shiseido manufactures and sells packing materials for analytical columns which provide superior separation and durability through high performance liquid chromatographs (analytical devices widely used in analytical chemistry and bioscience), as well as particle surface modification techniques acquired through cosmetics development.

*2 Packing material: Particle that is mainly made of silica gel and has separating function.

*3 Column: A tube filled with packing material.

For more details, please refer to the PDF below.