In an era of mega-takeovers, the cornerstone of corporate capital risk management is intelligence capabilities. In 2004, IR Japan became the first Japan-based IR services company to establish a presence in the United States. IR Japan’s New York office performs the dual functions of intelligence gathering and information distribution as part of its unique, globally oriented operating structure.

At our New York office, a team of seasoned capital markets professionals gathers the latest information and monitors global market trends through direct daily contact with institutional investors in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. In a period of growing threat to Japan’s stock markets from overseas, the intelligence gathered by our New York office can help to guide your company’s IR and SR activities to successful outcomes.

On March 5, 2004, IR Japan became the first Japanese IR firm to open an office in New York. Until that point, IR Japan had built up a strong reputation as the only IR firm in Japan to directly offer its clients a range of globally oriented intelligence services. These began with an international institutional shareholder identification service but soon expanded to include domestic institutional shareholder identification and other services. The launch of the New York office has given us a local base from which to conduct research and information gathering, and enables us to strengthen our relationships with fund managers specializing in Japanese stocks at overseas institutional investors. Our aim is to build an IR activity support structure that will enable the directors and IR managers of Japanese companies to undertake IR activities with maximum efficiency and peace of mind. Our New York office is managed by an experienced consultant, Mr. Yoshifumi Nakajima, who has been transferred from IR Japan’s head office in Tokyo.

The New York office provides frontline resources to bolster the effectiveness and efficiency of a range of services principally carried out at the IR Japan’s Tokyo head office. These include international institutional shareholder identification, perception surveys and proxy solicitation programs. Local staff conduct visits to institutional investors, and, through such daily, face-to-face communications with overseas-based institutional investors, we are able to increase the precision of our research as well as gather and analyze the latest information and opinions of investors on a regular basis. As a result, we are able to provide our Japanese corporate clients with more effective IR program proposals and offer direct support services for a range of IR activities, including overseas road shows.

In addition, IR Japan is the only Japanese IR firm to gain Honorary International Participant status at the Council of Institutional Investors (CII). This body comprises the world’s leading institutional investors, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and Hermes Investment Management Limited of the United Kingdom. Through participation in such key institutional investor bodies, the New York office has been able to carry out activities aimed at increasing the level of understanding among overseas institutional investors regarding Japanese companies and their operating environment. This has included briefings on such issues as the transition from Japan’s former Commercial Code to the new Corporation Law, recent trends in Japanese corporate governance, proxy voting trends and other topical issues.

IR Japan’s New York office is situated in Midtown Manhattan, around five minutes walk from Grand Central Station. This location is particularly convenient and accessible for many major global institutional investors, which maintain offices in New York. Consequently, we are able to arrange meetings with specific institutional investors and small-group meetings with a selection of investors at our conference rooms.

Following on from the opening of our New York office, we wish to reiterate our intention to further reinforce our service infrastructure with the aim of helping maximize the effectiveness of overseas IR activities undertaken by Japanese companies.