Japanese Yamato Transport Co forms Taiwan joint-venture
Japan’s biggest home-delivery service provider, Yamato Trans-port Co, have announced plans to form a joint venture with a local company, making it the first foreign business entity to invest in the nation’s transport industry after relevant regulations were amended late last year.
Grabbing a 40-percent market share with 1 billion packages delivered in Japan last year, Yamato decided to buy a 10 percent share of President Transnet Corp , which has managed Yamato’s Takkyubin service in Taiwan for nearly four years.
“As we have cooperated with President Transnet for a long time with the same business goal, we’ve realized that this Taiwanese company is a favorable investment target for us and therefore decided to push forward the joint-venture project after regulations were relaxed last year,” Yamato’s president Atsushi Yamazaki said at a contract-signing ceremony in Taipei yesterday.
In the ceremony yesterday, Jason Lin , chief executive officer of Uni-President Group –the parent company of President Transnet–said the deal would give Yamato 10 percent of President Transnet’s NT$1 billion capital. Uni-President Group retains its 20 percent share, while President Chain Store Corp’s share drops from 80 percent to 70 percent.
Saying that this joint venture signifies Yamato’s approval and recognition of President Transnet’s business performance, Lin added that the transnational cooperation would help consumers in Taiwan as well as Japan to obtain or transport farm produce, aquatic products and specialty goods much easier.
After regulations in the Highway Law were amended at the end of last year, Japan’s three leading home-delivery operators have been eager to enter Taiwan’s NT$20 billion market through their local partners.
Japan’s Sagawa Express Co is in talks with Taiwan’s Hsin Chu Trans , a subsidiary of Shihlin Electric , to become a minor shareholder.
Another Japanese distribution company, Nippon Express, has also shown interest in investing in Taiwan Pelican Express Co , the nation’s first home-delivery service operator established by Teco Electric and Machinery Co in July 2000.
