News Release

Ball & Doggett Group Pty Ltd. (head office: Melbourne, Australia; “B&D Group”), a consolidated subsidiary of Japan Pulp & Paper Co., Ltd. has decided to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Aarque Group Limited (“Aarque”) through B&D Group’s subsidiary, BJ Ball New Zealand (head office: Auckland, New Zealand; “BJ Ball”) and has concluded a share transfer agreement.

Aarque is the only company in New Zealand’s sign and display market that can provide a one-stop service ranging from the supply of hardware such as printers to the provision of technical services, media such as paper and films, and ink and other supplies. Fully utilizing these advantages and its strong sales network of six offices across the country, Aarque has the largest market share.

In New Zealand, due to competition with electronic devices among other factors, demand for printing paper is not expected to rapidly increase for the time being, but the sign and display market is a segment that has continued to achieve solid annual growth of around 8 percent. BJ Ball has been handling products for the sign and display market for some time, and through this share acquisition will work together with Aarque to further increase sales to this fast-growing market and boost profitability through the integration of overlapping business bases.

By acquiring this stake in Aarque, Japan Pulp & Paper can firmly establish a sales structure in the sign and display market in addition to the activities it already has in the paper wholesales market in the Oceania region, as well as further enhance the synergy effect within the Japan Pulp & Paper Group. We will continue to enhance and utilize the Group’s global network and strive both to further expand our business and improve customer services in this region.