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Transfer of Tea-Catechin Beverage Healthya
Kao Corporation (President: Yoshihiro Hasebe), announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Kirin Beverage Company Limited (President: Toru Yoshimura), a group company of Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (President: Yoshinori Isozaki) for the transfer of Healthya, a functional tea-catechin beverage brand.
While Healthya has developed into an iconic brand, Kao has selected the Kirin group, a leading beverage manufacturer excelling in immunology research, as the best partner to further develop the Healthya brand.
The transfer of Healthya enables Kao to further focus its resources on strategic measures to execute its structural reformation strategy and optimize its business portfolio to achieve its mid-term plan.
About Healthya
Based on years of metabolic research on body fat and visceral fat, Healthya was launched in 2003 as the first tea brand*1 claiming health promoting functionality, specifically body fat reduction, permitted for Food for Specified Health Uses, FOSHU, in Japan. Since its launch, Healthya created a new beverage market and became a long selling product with approximately 3.1 billion bottles sold to date*2 .
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* 1 Granted permission for functional claims on FOSHU that includes Tea Catechin. According to Kao
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* 2 Kao Total Cumulative Units of Shipment from May 2003 to December 2023
Scope of Transaction
5 tea-catechin beverage brands; 8 product types, with FOSHU and Food with Function Claims, will be transferred to Kirin: Healthya Green Tea, Healthya Green Tea Umami Taste, Healthya Water (Sports drink), Healthya my rhythm Sparkling (Carbonated drink) and Healthya Tea Catechin Green Tea taste (Powder drink).
About Kirin
| Company | Kirin Holdings Company, Limited |
|---|---|
| Representative | President and CEO Yoshinori Isozaki |
| Head Office | Nakano Central Park South, 4-10-2 Nakano, Nakano-ku Tokyo 164-0001, Japan |
| Acquiring Entity | Kirin Beverage Company, Limited |
|---|---|
| Representative | President and CEO Toru Yoshimura |
| Office | Nakano Central Park South, 4-10-2 Nakano, Nakano-ku Tokyo 164-0001, Japan |
Dates
| (1) Signing | February 1st , 2024 |
|---|---|
| (2) Closing | August 1st , 2024 (expected) |
Media inquiries should be directed to:
Public Relations
Kao Corporation