LN LINE Corp (ADR)

LINE Corporation Acquires Shares Accompanying Transfer of Subsidiary

LINE Corporation (NYSE:LN) (TOKYO:3938) (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Representative Director and CEO: Takeshi Idezawa; the “Company”) announces as follows that it will acquire all shares in FIVE Inc. (hereinafter “FIVE”), making it a subsidiary of the Company. As this transaction does not fall under the timely disclosure standards set forth by the Tokyo Stock Exchange, a portion of the disclosure items and details have been omitted.

1. Reasons for this Share Acquisition

Since the full-scale introduction of its performance-based ads in June 2016, the Company has shown steady growth in its business results. Meanwhile, FIVE, which is engaged in the development and operation of a platform for distributing video ads to smartphones, has used its advanced technology to achieve rapid growth in the performance-based advertising and brand advertising domains.

The Company has determined that making use of FIVE’s quality video ad platform’s business base and its specialized video ad technologies will contribute to speeding up the global growth and expansion of the LINE Group’s ad distribution business, and thus will acquire all of the shares in FIVE.

2. Overview of the Changing Subsidiary

  (1)   Company name   FIVE Inc.
  (2)   Location   Ebisu-West 5F, 1-16-15 Ebisunishi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
  (3)  

Name and title of

representative

  Keisuke Kanno, Representative Director
  (4)   Business   Development and operation of platform for distributing videos to smartphones
  (5)   Total capitalization   163,960,000 yen
  (6)   Established   October 24, 2014
  (7)  

Relationship between

LINE and the changing

subsidiary

  There are no capital, personnel, or business relationships.
 

3. Number of Acquired Shares and Shareholding Status Before and After Acquisition

  (1)  

Shares owned prior to

change

  0 shares

(Percentage of voting rights ownership: 00.00%)
  (2)   Shares to acquire   1,448 shares
  (3)  

Shares owned after

change

  1,448 shares

(Percentage of voting rights ownership: 100.00%)
 

4. Schedule

  (1)   Signing of agreement   December 4, 2017
  (2)  

Execution of share

transfer

  Mid-December 2017
 

5. Future Forecast

The impact of this Share Acquisition on the Company’s consolidated results is expected to be minimal.

The Company has issued a press release today titled “LINE Corporation Enters Capital and Business Alliance With FIVE Inc.” (https://linecorp.com/en/pr/news/en/2017/1963) which provides details of FIVE’s services and their synergy with the Company’s businesses, as well as future business developments.

This is an English translation of the original Japanese-language document. Should there be any inconsistency between the translation and the original Japanese text, the latter shall prevail.

EN
04/12/2017

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