Basic policies regarding the state of person(s) controlling the decision making over the financial and business policies of the Company

   As a publicly traded company, the Company believes that, in principle, the buying and selling of the Company’s shares should be left to the free judgment of shareholders and investors, and that the decision as to whether or not shareholders sell shares to those seeking to control the Company’s management through the purchase of the Company’s shares is, in the end, at the discretion of those who hold shares of the Company.
    Furthermore, even in the event that a certain group of shareholders gains control of the Company’s management, this action itself may not necessarily cause an immediate loss in the corporate value and, by extension, harm the joint benefit of the Company’s shareholders (hereinafter, the corporate value and the joint benefit of the Company’s shareholders are simply referred to as “the joint benefit of shareholders”). On the contrary, it may even contribute to the maximization of the joint benefit of shareholders. In such an event, the Company will not oppose the efforts of a certain group of shareholders to acquire control of the Company’s management.
The Company and its group (hereinafter, the “Group”), in line with its corporate profile of “contributing to the creation of a vital society and a healthy lifestyle through fermentation technology and biotechnology in a way that achieves harmony with nature,” has been committed to contributing to society by seeking out new possibilities in culinary culture, cultural life and the life sciences, and by continuing to create new value. This commitment has been underpinned by further developing both the Company’s fermentation technologies for traditional Japanese sake brewing and its cutting-edge biotechnologies.
    In 2002 the Company was restructured to a holding company in order to further increase corporate value as a group, and in such role, the Company has allowed each business group to maintain its unique nature and independence, by pursuing maximum business performance through providing management coordination and administration for the Group as a whole. In 2011, the Company established its 10-year long-term management vision known as “Takara Group Vision 2020” and set its management goal as “growing businesses in markets in Japan and overseas in which the Group can leverage its strengths and establishing a balanced business structure that is readily adaptable to changing conditions,” and the Company has been working on a three-year medium-term management plan as a plan to execute the achievement of such management goal. Based on its business portfolio that comprises domestic alcoholic beverage and seasonings businesses, overseas alcoholic beverage and overseas Japanese food wholesale businesses, and biomedical business, the Company will provide the world with products and services boasting technology-backed reliability and safety while contributing to the progress of medicine in order to enrich people’s lives. In this way, the Company will pursue higher corporate value for the Group as a whole. 
    Under these circumstances, in managing the Group, the Company must possess the highest levels of specialized knowledge and extensive experience required by its different business models in the domestic alcoholic beverage and seasonings businesses, overseas alcoholic beverage and overseas Japanese food wholesale businesses, and biomedical business, which form the pillars of the Group’s business operations. Furthermore, the Company believes that it is imperative for the Group to build trusting relationships with all of its domestic and overseas stakeholders since it is these elements that are the foundation of the Group’s corporate value and the Company believes that management members, who control the decision making over the Company’s financial and business policies, must fully understand these relationships if they are to secure and increase the joint benefit of shareholders.

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