Initiating Shopping Mall Operations in ASEAN Markets and China

In operations in China, our mall development is moving forward, driven by an estimated trade area population per shopping center of 1 million people. In Beijing and Tianjin, where ÆON MALL has opened one mall each, our focus is on suburban developments as we move to establish a dominant presence.

Furthermore, ahead of our own business expansion in China, six more provinces have been designated as priority development areas. Thus in addition to Beijing and Tianjin in northern China, we are moving to initiate development in Shandong, specifically the provincial capital of Jinan, as well as in other provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei in eastern China, and Guangdong and Fujian in southern China.

Meanwhile in the ASEAN region, in a follow-up to a feasibility study already underway in Vietnam, we have started building bases for our shopping mall business in Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and India.

Strengthen Overseas Business Structure to Usher in Future Growth

Bolstering our business promotion structure is crucial to assertively advancing our operations overseas. This recognition prompted the establishment of our new China Development Management Department and ASEAN Development Management Department. In China, personnel that will supervise development have been dispatched to each area, and have begun first to secure properties for development in provincial capitals. Personnel have similarly been dispatched to each country in the ASEAN region as we try to build bases for eventual mall openings.

In terms of specific plans, we are slated to open one shopping mall in China in the fiscal year ending February 20, 2013 and more than five there in the following year. The properties needed for development are also materializing in Vietnam, where we plan to have an opening within the next few years.

From the fiscal year ending February 20, 2015 and beyond, our aim is to realize double-digit, or more, mall openings in China and the ASEAN region each year. The first task, though, is to grow our business base through the development of multiple shopping malls as we transform overseas operations into a new growth driver for ÆON MALL.