Bando Chemical Industries Ltd. (TYO:5195) announced on April 5 that it signed a share purchase agreement to acquire all shares of Aimedic MMT Co. Ltd., a manufacturer, seller and provider of after-sale services for orthopedic medical devices. Acquired from a fund managed by the Polaris Capital Group Co. Ltd. for around 10.55 billion yen ($94.23 million), Aimedic MMT will become...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) announced on April 12 that it has won a design rights infringement lawsuit against the Shengtai Group in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. The case stemmed from the Japanese firm’s claim that the major Chinese tire manufacturer utilized a tread pattern patented for the Bridgestone ST3000 truck tire. Bridgestone first filed the lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) recently announced that it is set to join the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corp. (TYO:7203) in an international space exploration mission. Through the mission, JAXA and Toyota aim to expand the domain of human activity while also developing new intellectual property. Bridgestone, meanwhile, will move forward with research for contact patches – essentially...
Ube Industries Ltd. (TYO:4208) announced on April 8 that its consolidated subsidiary Ube Corporation Europe SAU (UCE) has decided to acquire Spanish compound manufacturer Repol SL. The companies have agreed to a share transfer on the basis of a deal for UCE to acquire a majority of Repol’s shares in late March. Based in Valencia, Spain, Repol operates a European...
Bridgestone Corp. (TYO:5108) on April 2 completed its acquisition of digital fleet solutions provider TomTom Telematics, a former business unit of TomTom NV of the Netherlands. The acquisition was effected after Bridgestone subsidiary Bridgestone Europe NV/SA received approval from regulatory authorities and satisfied other procedural requirements. The purchase price was 910 million euros ($1.03 billion). The acquired business operates the...
Zeon Corp. (TYO:4205) announced on April 1 that it has spun off the Sano plant that performs injection molding for Optes Inc., a cyclo-olefin polymer (COP) processing and manufacturing subsidiary. In establishing the new Zeon Opto Bio Lab Co. Ltd. as a result of this, Zeon plans to grow by strengthening its prototyping business in the optics, medical and bio...
