Asahi Kasei to Spend 400 Billion Yen on M&As, Production Facilities

By Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Dec. 29–TOKYO — Asahi Kasei Corp. will invest up to 400 billion yen to finance both production facility construction and merger and acquisition deals during the subsequent five-year period, the head of the chemical maker has said.

“Our performance’s recovery and enhanced financial profile have made it possible for us to adopt strategic investment policies,” Asahi Kasei President Shiro Hiruta said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.

The firm will funnel greater resources into its large-scale integrated circuit business, Hiruta said, adding, “We will conduct M&As and expand production at the Nobeoka factory” to hike the LSI market share. The factory is in Miyazaki Prefecture.

As for the firm’s chemicals operations, he said, “We would like to push up performances in the acrylonitrile and other products segments where we have (technological) advantages.” As for the locations where the firm would conduct chemicals-related capital outlays, he said, “We would do that in any country if only necessary conditions were satisfied, such as the availability of material substances and marketing routes” for the resultant goods.

Asked about the upsurge in the cost of naphtha for use in plastic and shopping bags, Hiruta said, “I do not expect the cost to fall sharply” down the track.

“It is necessary for the (chemical) industry to make efforts to reduce its dependency on crude oil on the basis of technological innovations and the effective use of resources,” he added.

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