News

Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (President: Akira Takeuchi, capital: ¥119.4 billion; hereinafter referred to as the “Company” or “Mitsubishi Materials”) provides notice that the Company positively reorganized its Southeast Asia Regional Office and established Mitsubishi Materials Southeast Asia Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, “MMSEA”), which commences operations on April 1, 2015. MMSEA (location: Bangkok, Thailand) will serve as a Southeast Asian support center, or regional headquarters, for the Mitsubishi Materials Group.

“Strengthening global Competitiveness” was defined as a group-wide growth strategy in “Materials Premium 2016,” the Company’s medium-term management plan. This strategy calls for the expansion of production and sales locations with the aim of growing by enhancing business operations, centered on emerging countries. In line with this strategy, the Company considers Southeast Asia and South Asia to be of topmost importance from the standpoint of management strategy for the following reasons.

• The region represents a key market, accounting for approximately 22%^*1 of the Company's consolidated net sales.
• Many of the Mitsubishi Materials Group’s key customers, including Japanese-affiliated automakers and home appliance manufacturers, are expanding their operations in this region, as the so-called “factory of the world.”
• This market is slated for continued future expansion, against a backdrop of increasing populations and economic growth in the countries that make up the region.

Accordingly, the Company is working to create an optimal value chain that includes production and sales networks. The Company's growth strategy is steadily taking shape, as evidenced by the inauguration of a thermistor sensor manufacturing subsidiary in Laos in February 2015.

In the past, the Company's Southeast Asia Regional Office has primarily supported corporate activities for the 26 companies^*2 in the Mitsubishi Materials Group conducting business in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and India. However, in tandem with the global acceleration of the Group's businesses, Mitsubishi Materials has recognized the need for a new structure to strengthen and cultivate the businesses of Group companies in the region.

By reorganizing the Southeast Asia Regional Office into MMSEA, Mitsubishi Materials aims to strengthen its business administration, including management policy penetration, corporate governance and compliance, for Group companies in the region.
Furthermore, the Company has tasked MMSEA with new functions, such as cross-divisional marketing and sales support. As a result, Mitsubishi Materials aims to create synergies unique to its position as a conglomerate, promoting further business growth of Group companies by pursuing the "Materials Premium." Going forward, through MMSEA, Mitsubishi Materials will continue working to expand its business in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

*1...Figure based on the accounts settlement for fiscal year ended March 31, 2014
*2...Subsidiaries and affiliated companies in which the Company owns 20% or more