Photo/Illutration Lawson Inc. President Sadanobu Takemasu is flanked by KDDI Corp. President Makoto Takahashi, right, and Mitsubishi Corp. President Katsuya Nakanishi at a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 6. (Takeshi Suezaki)

Mobile carrier KDDI Corp. will acquire a 50-percent stake in Lawson Inc. for nearly 500 billion yen ($3.37 billion) to help the nation’s third-largest convenience store chain incorporate digital technologies and offer new services.

“The (capital alliance) proposal from KDDI, which possesses telecommunications and digital technologies, will give significant momentum to our strides into the future,” Lawson President Sadanobu Takemasu told a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 6.

KDDI President Makoto Takahashi said at the news conference, “We want to bring convenience stores of the future into reality by having Lawson utilize digital technologies."

“It will be a worthwhile investment if Lawson grows further and goes global with the power of telecommunications,” he added.

KDDI, which offers cellphone services under the au brand among other telecommunications services, already owns 2.11 percent of Lawson’s outstanding shares.

The company plans to purchase about 48 percent more shares from existing shareholders for about 497 billion yen through a public tender offer that will start around April.

If the tender offer is successful, Lawson will be equally owned by KDDI and trading house Mitsubishi Corp., Lawson’s parent company with a 50.06-percent stake, and will be delisted.

Mitsubishi, which turned Lawson into its subsidiary in 2017, had asked KDDI to participate in Lawson’s management in May.

“We have cooperated with Lawson in the food business and delivery service, but we were at a loss what else we can do to support it,” Mitsubishi President Katsuya Nakanishi said. “There were limits to what Mitsubishi alone can do to enhance Lawson’s corporate value.”

Lawson, which operates about 14,600 convenience stores nationwide, is competing fiercely with industry leader Seven-Eleven Japan Co. and second place FamilyMart Co.

But the number of outlets is hitting the wall as the domestic convenience store market becomes saturated.

Lawson plans to utilize digital technologies to upgrade services, such as finance and online shopping.

To deal with labor shortages, the company has introduced unmanned stores and customer service via a remotely controlled on-screen avatar ahead of rivals.

“It would be possible to buy whatever is necessary as long as there are convenience stores and online shopping services,” Takemasu said. “But technologies are an indispensable prerequisite.”

Takahashi said KDDI will dispatch its senior employees to Lawson although Mitsubishi will continue to appoint one of its executives to serve as Lawson’s president.

(This article was compiled from reports by Shinya Matsumoto, Yuriko Suzuki, Takeshi Suezaki and Hideki Aota.)

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