ASKUL Corporation : Acquisition of Noncurrent Assets

Disclaimer

This is an English translation of the captioned release. This translation is prepared and provided for the purpose of the reader's convenience. All readers are recommended to refer to the original version in Japanese of the release for complete

information.

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News Release Dated: January 9, 2013
To whom it may concern

Company Name:	ASKUL Corporation
(Code No.: 2678, Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section)
Representative:	Shoichiro Iwata President and Chief Executive Officer
Contact Person:	Tsuguhiro Tamai Executive Officer, Finance & Corporate Communication Unit Phone: [phone]

Acquisition of Noncurrent Assets

ASKUL Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the "Company") hereby announces that the board of directors, in its meeting held on January 9, 2013, has resolved that the Company acquire the noncurrent assets (a land and a building for a large-scale logistics facility), as described below.
1. Reasons for acquisition
The Company will acquire a new large-scale logistics facility (the land and the building) currently being constructed by ORIX Real Estate Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "ORIX Real Estate") to expand the capacity of logistics handling and to strengthen the logistics function with the following objectives:
1) Improvement of net sales through the expansion of stock items mainly led by the products of
LOHACO, the business targeting general consumers (B-to-C business).
2) Promotion of low cost operation to enhance competitiveness by realizing extensive manpower saving through measures such as the first introduction in Japan of an automatic packing machine and the improvement of the goods arrival flow.
3) Securing of a new revenue source by starting the fulfillment (a service that contracts the entire process from receiving orders to delivery) business.
The building is currently under construction based on a contract for work signed between ORIX Real Estate and Maeda Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Maeda"), and therefore the Company plans to sign contracts with these two companies to take over the contractual position of ORIX Real Estate in the concerned contract for work and other related agreements. (The Company plans to carry out related procedures including real property registration once the
building is completed.)
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Disclaimer

This is an English translation of the captioned release. This translation is prepared and provided for the purpose of the reader's convenience. All readers are recommended to refer to the original version in Japanese of the release for complete

information.

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2. Assets to be acquired

Details and location of the assets	Approximate acquisition cost
(Land) Location: Aza Nakanishi, Oaza Kamitome, Miyoshi-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama Prefecture Site area: 55,062.47 m2	¥4,680 million
(Building) Location: 1163, Aza Nakanishi, Oaza Kamitome, Miyoshi-machi, Iruma-gun, Saitama Prefecture Total floor area: 72,126.34 m2 Structure and scale: reinforced concrete structure (with steel frames used partially); three stories	¥10,570 million
Total	¥15,250 million

Note: The above approximate acquisition costs include the compensation for the contractual position the Company is taking over from ORIX Real Estate and the remaining work fee to be paid to Maeda based on the said contractual position.

3. Profile of the company from which the Company is acquiring the assets

(1) Name	ORIX Real Estate Corporation
(2) Location	2-14-5 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo
(3) Name and title of representative	Yoshiyuki Yamaya, President & Representative Director
(4) Business	Housing development, real estate investment and operation
(5) Capitalization	¥200 million
(6) Established	March 11, 1999
(7) Major shareholder and shareholding ratio	100% by ORIX Corporation
(8) The relationship between the listed company and the said company	Capital relationship	There is no capital relationship between the Company and the said company to be noted. There is no capital relationship between the Company's officials, subsidiaries as well as affiliates and the said company, its subsidiaries and affiliates to be specified.
(8) The relationship between the listed company and the said company	Personal relationship	There is no personal relationship between the Company and the said company to be noted. There is no personal relationship between the Company's officials, subsidiaries as well as affiliates and the said company, its subsidiaries and affiliates to be specified.
(8) The relationship between the listed company and the said company	Business relationship	Apart from a small amount of general commercial transactions, there is no business relationship between the Company group and the group of the said company to be noted.
(8) The relationship between the listed company and the said company	Whether it falls under the category of related parties	The said company does not fall under the category of the Company's related parties. The officials, subsidiaries as well as affiliates of the said company do not fall under the category of the Company's related parties.

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Disclaimer

This is an English translation of the captioned release. This translation is prepared and provided for the purpose of the reader's convenience. All readers are recommended to refer to the original version in Japanese of the release for complete

information.

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4. Schedule of acquisition

(1) Resolution by the board of directors	January 9, 2013
(2) Conclusion of the real estate purchase contract	January 31, 2013 (plan)
(3) Conclusion of the contract for taking over the position in the construction work contract	January 31, 2013 (plan)
(4) Handing over of the property	May 21, 2013 (plan)

5. Outlook
The Company intends to appropriate internal funds for the entire acquisition cost of the above land and building. The Company also plans to carry out capital investment worth approximately
¥4.0 billion for separate material handling equipment, etc. before this logistics facility becomes operational.
The Company expects that the impact of this acquisition will have negligible impact on the
Company's business performance and will immediately announce if any matter that ought to be disclosed arises in the future.
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