#Japan #healthcare #Investment #Tokyo #ACA Next

Strategic Partnership with ACA Next Group

On April 30, 2025, our company's board of directors reached a crucial decision to form a business alliance with ACA Next Group, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, led by President Akihiro Higashi. In addition, the board authorized the acquisition of new shares issued by ACA Next Partners, a subsidiary located at the same address and headed by President Ryohei Imaizumi. Through this strategic partnership, we aim to leverage each other's strengths to foster business growth.

Reasons for the Business Alliance

Our company has been actively engaged in wellness and medical cosmetic sectors, operating mainly through our subsidiary, Media Art. This subsidiary focuses on the development and sales of high-end private-brand medical cosmetics through OEM and wholesale methods. On the wellness side, we provide a comprehensive range of health foods, preservation foods, and beverages, backed by our foundational mineral technology. Our food service business, launched last fiscal year, has seen remarkable growth, with plans to acquire Grand Roof Corporation by March 2025, propelling us toward significant advancements.

The ACA Next Group has established a vast sales network across social welfare and medical facilities, complemented by its state-of-the-art factory for fully prepared foods, which enhances the potential for our food service business expansion. In contrast, our company has robust channels for direct consumers, recipe development services for facilities, and over 350,000 individual members through our subsidiaries. By collaborating, we envision a synergistic effect that will facilitate significant growth in our business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) operations, as outlined in our medium-term management plan announced in November 2024.

Details of the Business Partnership

The partnership with ACA Next entails several collaborative measures, including:

• - Sharing sales channels to drive revenue growth collectively,
• - Expanding the range of fully prepared meals offered via recipes provided by our company, thus launching a subscription delivery service for these products directly to consumers,
• - Establishing a picking center to streamline the delivery network, aiming to reduce costs for both existing and new services,
• - The appointment of our CEO, Shuhei Komatsu, to the board of ACA Next,
• - Smooth sharing of management resources and reviewing our shareholding ratio in ACA Next for capital structure optimization.

Overview of ACA Next Group

• - Name: ACA Next Corporation
• - Location: 1-16-3 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato, Tokyo
• - Representative: Akihiro Higashi, President
• - Business Activities:

- Operations management of school, hospital, and care facility meal services,
- Management contracts for cleaning public facilities and hospitals,
- Staffing and recruitment services,
- Home care services and operation of care facilities.

Share Acquisition Details

Reasons for Stock Acquisition

To formalize our business partnership with ACA Next, we plan to acquire shares issued by ACA Next Partners. During the extraordinary shareholder meeting scheduled for May 14, 2025, ACA Next Partners will approve the issuance of new shares through a third-party allotment, part of which our company intends to acquire. Additionally, ACA Next Partners will absorb ACA Next in a merger, allowing us to gain ownership of ACA Next shares.

Share Acquisition Overview

ACA Next Partners will call for a third-party allotment of new shares at the extraordinary shareholder meeting on May 14, 2025, which our company expects to subscribe to. The funds raised from this issuance will be funneled into advancing our healthcare-related projects.

Overview of Share Issuer

• - Name: ACA Next Partners Inc.
• - Location: 1-16-3 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato, Tokyo
• - Representative: Ryohei Imaizumi, President
• - Business Activities: Investment company.

Timeline of Key Activities

• - Board of Directors Meeting Resolution Date: April 30, 2025
• - Contract Signing Date: April 30, 2025
• - Payment Period for Third-Party Allotment: May 15 to May 20, 2025 (tentative)

Statement from CEO Shuhei Komatsu

The collaboration with ACA Next is expected to facilitate the expansion of our food services aimed at consumers and enhance our sales channels for business clients, as outlined in our medium-term management plan. With a combined membership base exceeding 1.2 million, we are striving to initiate regular sales of fully prepared frozen foods by the end of this year, in line with market growth.