マーキュリアホールディングス（7347） – [Delayed]Notice of Investment in souco Inc.

NEWS RELEASE December 23, 2021 Mercuria Holdings Co., Ltd. Notice of Investment in souco Inc. BizTech Fund Mercuria Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “MIC”), a subsidiary of Mercuria Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “the Company”) has jointly formed Mercuria Biztech Investment Limited Partnership, commonly referred to as Mercuria BizTech Fund (hereinafter “the Fund”) with ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO), a strategic shareholder of the group headed by the Company (hereinafter “the Group”), for the purpose of supporting companies trying to reform the real estate and logistical industries. The Company announced that the Fund has invested in souco, Inc. (hereinafter “souco”), which engages in a warehouse sharing platform service. Overview of souco souco is a startup that operates souco, a service for gathering and matching information on companies that temporarily have vacant space in logistics facilities and warehouses due to seasonal fluctuations or other factors and companies which temporarily require warehousing space due to seasonal fluctuations or other factors. At the end of November 2021, the total number of warehouse business operators and cargo owners with accounts registered on the souco platform exceeded 2,000*. With information on vacant space at more than 1,300 warehouses nationwide registered on the souco platform, souco has established itself as market leader based on number of properties listed. platform Based on information provided by souco. * Simple sum total of warehouse business operators and cargo owners with accounts registered on the souco (Image courtesy of souco Inc.) Background behind Investment Some owners of cargoes that are affected by seasonal fluctuations such as bevarages or white goods need more warehouse space than they themselves have during busy periods. If they increase their capacity to match peak demand, they will have more idle space during slack periods, resulting in inefficient fixed costs. To avoid this, cargo owners set their warehouse capacity at a level lower than peak demand. In such cases, cargo owners generally meet demand for warehouse space during peak periods through the short-term lease of external warehouse space. However, to do this, they must overcome various obstacles. For example, it is extremely difficult to obtain information on space which will be vacant for several months because warehouse lease agreements usually have terms of at least several years and the only way to gather information is the making inquiries with warehouse operators who go back a long way. Another obstacle to the short-term lease of external warehouse space is that it takes much more time and effort to negotiate the terms and conditions of transactions compared with regular long-term lease transactions because short-term lease transactions are irregular, non-standard transactions. Given these factors, the market for the short-term leasing of external warehouse space is still maturing and a considerable number of cargo owners appear to be reluctantly operating warehouses with capacity to meet peak demand. Focusing on logistics issues such as these and needs of cargo owners to absorb the impact of seasonal fluctuations in variable costs, souco launched the warehouse demand matching service described above. The service not only stores information on the location of properties and the duration of vacancies but also various facility information and operational information which cargo owners need when considering leasing. The service also considerably reduces the obstacles to leasing external warehouse space by standardizing the entire procedure from matching needs to closing the deal. The Group decided to make this latest investment based on the expectation that increased use of the service will result in more widespread short-term leasing of external warehouse space and the optimization of cargo owners’ logistics costs. Going forward, souco will benefit from strong support, with access to the investment resources and * Source: Trends Surrounding Logistics published by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism networks of the Group and the Fund. in July 2020 Uchisaiwaicho Daibiru Bldg. 6F, 1-3-3 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0011 tel.+81-3-3500-9870 fax.+81-3-3500-9881 Japan has long been ranked at the bottom among the seven leading OECD member countries in terms of labor productivity. There is growing interest in improving productivity through the introduction of technologies. In comparison with the United States, among industries Japan is said to see the lowest level of IT capital input in the real estate and logistics (transport and warehousing) industries. These are among the sectors where digitalization is the most likely to lead to enhance productivity. MIC will invest in enterprises that aim to renovate the real estate and logistics industries with next-generation technologies and unique business models to support their growth. Offering hands-on support, it will maximize the corporate value and contribute to revitalization and productivity improvement in these sectors. The impact of the investment on the Company’s consolidated results is minor and insignificant. If there is any event that should be disclosed, the Company will disclose it promptly. Profile of souco Inc. Company name: souco Inc. Head office location: LIFULL HUB, 1-4-4 Kojimachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan Representative: Kunehito Nakahara, CEO Business: Logistics matching business, System service business Website: https://www.souco.space/ Profile of Mercuria Investment Co., Ltd. Company name: Mercuria Investment Co., Ltd. Head office location: 1-3-3 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan Representative: Toshihiro Toyoshima, CEO Business: Investment advisory, investment management, and Type-II financial instruments business Website: https://www.mercuria.jp/english/ *For inquiries regarding this release, please contact: Mercuria Holdings Co., Ltd. Investor Relations Tel: 03-3500-9870 Mail: info@mercuria-hd.jp Website: https://mercuria-hd.jp/en.html The above is an English translation of the Japanese version provided for information purpose only. The original Japanese version was released through our website (https://mercuria-hd.jp). If any discrepancy is identified between this translation and the Japanese original, the Japanese original shall prevail. Uchisaiwaicho Daibiru Bldg. 6F, 1-3-3 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0011 tel.+81-3-3500-9870 fax.+81-3-3500-9881