Feb. 13, 2018 – Japan’s Oji Holdings Corp. has announced it will buy 33 per cent of Mitsubishi Paper Mills Ltd. as a result of increasing pressures on Japanese and international paper markets.
They say the printing and communications paper field in Japan has been strongly affected by the declining birthrate, aging of the population, utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), resulting to a 30 per cent decrease compared to a decade ago.
“In addition, in the short run, with the price of papermaking raw material and fuel being rising in the rise of the price of the resource in general, the business environment for the domestic printing and communications paper manufacturers is becoming more and more severe situation,” they said in a press release.
“Under such circumstances, Oji Holdings and Mitsubishi Paper have been in a situation where they would not be able to continue the stable operation and growth of our businesses while competing with the other companies, if the two companies continued the existing management strategy.”
They anticipate all transactions for the merger will be completed by the end of next year.
Oji Holdings says it has been pursuing acquisitions of manufacturing and sales bases in Asia, Oceania and South America, while domestically striving to strengthen the revenue base of items such as household papers and corrugated boards, and striving to research and develop innovative materials such as cellulose nanofibre, in addition to working on reduction of the production equipment for printing and communication papers.
Similarly, Mitsubishi Paper says it has been developing various businesses such as printing & communication paper business, digital imaging business, specialty materials business, pulp manufacturing outsourcing, and power generation.
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