Japanese stationery firm Kokuyo has exited its investment in Pentel. 

 

Japanese stationery and office furniture giant Kokuyo has exited its investment in Pentel three and a half years after trying to acquire the pen manufacturer.

 

In 2019, Kokuyo paid around US$90 million to purchase a 37 per cent stake in Pentel. It then launched a hostile bid to acquire a majority ownership and make Pentel a subsidiary. However, Pentel shareholders objected to this move and formed an alliance with another leading Japanese stationery group, Plus Corporation.

 

Since then, Kokuyo said it has been urging Pentel to form a business alliance “for the purpose of strengthening both companies’ overseas operations and improving Pentel’s enterprise value”. At the same time, Plus and Pentel have been pursuing their own strategic initiatives.

 

Now, following negotiations between the three parties, Kokuyo will sell its shareholding – which now stands at around 46 per cent – to Plus for an undisclosed sum. The transaction will give Plus an ownership stake of more than 76 per cent in

 

Pentel; it intends to make the writing instruments manufacturer a consolidated subsidiary and hold the acquired shares for the long term.

 

Plus said that it will continue to respect Pentel’s management independence. Nevertheless, it plans to further accelerate collaboration in various fields, such as manufacturing and development, and domestic and overseas business cooperation.

 

Kokuyo and Pentel are not burning their bridges, however. They have agreed to enter into a business alliance aimed at growing both companies’ stationery businesses in markets outside of Japan.

 

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