Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery, Ltd. (Masami Shimizu, President) and Ryobi Limited (Akira Urakami, President and COO) herein announce signing a Letter of Intent, dated January 23, 2013, for a joint study on business alliance for commercial printing machinery business.

Purpose of the agreement

Both companies have been producing and selling sheet-fed offset printing presses (*1) and facing the stiffer market situation with the shrinking demand especially in developed countries due to the recent global economic crisis. This has led both companies to promote structural reforms to sustain competitiveness in the market and financial soundness as well.

As part of the further efforts in strengthening corporate structure, both companies agreed to study on establishing business alliance in the field of sheet-fed offset printing press business with a possible set up of a joint venture company in future specifically aiming at improving competitiveness of sheet-fed offset printing machinery, enhancing the scale of operations, and solidifying its management base.

It is expected in the commercial printing industry that the market demand for printing machinery in the developing countries is getting stronger, and the demand for higher specification products is expected to grow further in the global market.

Both companies from now on jointly study the scheme that allows significant synergy effects such as enhancement of product line-up, enlargement of product development capability, reduction of product cost, and improvement in sales and service networks. The plan is expected to enable the stronger presence in the global market.