OREANDA-NEWS. Jupiter Telecommunications Co., Ltd. hereby announces that J:COM resolved at its board of directors meeting held on November 19, 2013, to acquire all the shares of JAPAN CABLENET LIMITED held by KDDI Corporation, and executed a share transfer agreement ("Share Transfer") with KDDI pertaining to the shares of JCN. Following the Share Transfer, J:COM will integrate JCN.

KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation announced on October 24, 2012 and in subsequent announcements that the Shareholders executed a shareholders agreement for joint management of J:COM. The Shareholders also announced their plans to conduct a tender offer for all issued common shares and stock acquisition rights of J:COM, to implement procedures necessary to achieve equal voting rights of 50% each between the Shareholders, and to integrate JCN with J:COM. Pursuant to the agreement, J:COM's management has advanced to the joint management by the Shareholders. The parties today agreed on the Share Transfer and the integration of J:COM and JCN. The aforementioned Share Transfer is scheduled to be implemented on December 2, 2013 and the parties will proceed with preparation for the merger between J:COM and JCN, which is planned to be completed in April 2014.

The Share Transfer is a step leading to the planned integration of J:COM and JCN, which, in cooperation with the Shareholders, aims to achieve business-scale expansion and service enhancement that will strengthen competitiveness and increase customer satisfaction of the integrated business. The newly expanded entity will, as Japan's largest cable TV operator, endeavor to contribute to the development of the industry as a whole.

As a measure to ensure a smooth integration, J:COM, JCN and the Shareholders have jointly set up an integration steering committee, under which teams and groups have been formed for basic management areas (business strategy, products/media, sales/marketing, technology, personnel/organization, administration) to discuss and work on issues specific to each area. As part of its business plan, post-integration J:COM will continue to maintain its key medium-term objectives: advancing to  a "community service partner"; and transforming itself into a comprehensive media business group by boosting its media content business. At the same time, J:COM will capitalize on JCN's useful resources, particularly its knowhow developed from years of providing locally oriented cable TV services as well as smart TV connection services.

The integration will also benefit J:COM in offering greater opportunities to utilize the wealth of capabilities and resources held by each Shareholder. Major strengths of KDDI that are attractive to J:COM include its "au" labeled products, marketing channels, and research and development capabilities for mobile and landline phone networks. Sumitomo Corporation is likely to be a strong supporter by providing its expertise built from years of operating in the media sector and aiding partnership formation in a wide range of areas, from retail and IT to real estate. By leveraging these benefits from the integration, J:COM will work to enhance its service quality and strengthen competitiveness, thereby achieving sustained growth.