14 May 2021

Ashimori Industry Co., Ltd. and Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. have agreed to establish a capital and business alliance for the automotive safety system business.

This represents a change of Ashimori Industry’s major stockholder.

Aim of the alliance

The business environment in the automotive industry is undergoing rapid and significant changes, with technical innovations on vehicles in the new fields of Connectivity, Autonomous, Sharing and Electrification, referred to as CASE and new mobility models under MaaS (Mobility as a service).

The environment for automotive products is also changing, and companies are required to keep up with these developments while contributing to the development of sustainable and prosperous societies through the supply of clean and safe parts.

To meet these challenges, Ashimori Industry and Toyoda Gosei will utilise their mutual business assets and know-how to contribute to improved automobile safety through their development ability and by strengthening product competitiveness.

Summary of capital and business alliance

１． Business alliance

Ashimori Industry and Toyoda Gosei will utilise their respective business assets and know-how, to build a cooperative framework in areas including technical development, production, and purchasing. This framework will enable synergies to be realised and product competitiveness to be further improved.

• Collaboration in the fields of technology and development for automotive safety part systems and components
• Strengthening of production and quality control systems by mutual use of the two companies’ production sites and sharing their manufacturing know-how
• Optimization of the supply chain by building a cooperative framework in purchasing and other areas

2. Capital alliance

Toyoda Gosei acquired 834,100 common shares (13.89% of outstanding common shares after deduction of treasury shares) in Ashimori Industry previously held by the Japan Wool Textile Co., Ltd. through after-hours trading on ToSTNeT-1 （Tokyo Stock exchange Trading Network system-1）at the closing price on May 14.

After the stock acquisition, Toyoda Gosei became the second largest stockholder (13.89%) of Ashimori Industry.

3. Outline of Toyoda Gosei

Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd is a leading global manufacturer of automotive parts such as safety systems, functional parts, interior and exterior products with a network of 64 group companies in 17 countries and regions.