News Releases

At a meeting of the Board of Directors on April 11, 2006 FamilyMart adopted the Policy toward Large-Scale Purchases of FamilyMart Shares (hereinafter, “the counter-acquisition policy”). Subsequently, after amendments had been made to the counter-acquisition policy as deemed necessary, the extension of the policy was approved at a meeting of the Board of Directors on April 10, 2008. The validity of the counter-acquisition policy will expire on April 30, 2009.

Since we introduced the counter-acquisition policy, in line with the concept of “Co-Growing” — the basic concept underlying the Company’s operations — we have made steady progress in achieving improved earnings for both the Company and its franchisees. In addition, as the Company regards the distribution of profits to shareholders as a matter of the highest priority, we raised the payout ratio target and adopted a flexible dividend policy to more faithfully reflect the Company’s earnings growth.

As a result of recent amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law, the law now provides basic procedures for dealing with the attempted large-scale purchase of the shares of a company so that the shareholders of the company are able to exercise due judgment with regard to the proposed purchase after provision of relevant information by the would-be buyers and allowance of a certain period for review. As a result, the law now largely provides the protection against damage caused by large-scale share purchases for the purpose of which the counter-acquisition policy was adopted.

In our view, the counter-acquisition policy has lost much of its original significance as a result of these legislative changes. The management of FamilyMart has therefore given considerable thought to the advisability or otherwise of maintaining the policy.

As a result, we have decided not to extend application of the counter-acquisition policy. This decision is based on our assessment that adequate measures are being taken by the Company with respect to: 1) taking active steps to enhance store competitiveness, strengthen merchandising, and build a high-quality store network; 2) pushing ahead with the development of overseas store chains in pursuit of our Pan-Pacific Plan (plan to create a store network in Pacific Rim countries) as a means of enhancing the profitability of the Company’s operations; 3) strengthening our corporate governance system; and 4) maintaining our dividend payment policy. All these measures are aimed at raising the Company’s enterprise value and ensuring adequate protection of the common interests of shareholders.

Despite the non-extension of the counter-acquisition policy, FamilyMart will continue to actively insist on the disclosure to the Company’s shareholders of full information regarding proposals for large-scale share purchases in the future. Through the disclosure of decisions taken by the Board of Directors, and the opinions of the Board, we intend to ensure that our shareholders are fully apprised of the situation in the event of an attempted corporate acquisition. We will do our utmost to ensure that shareholders are able to exercise due judgment with regard to any proposed purchase through the provision of relevant information and the allowance of a certain period for review. We will take whatever legal action under the Corporate Law and other applicable legislation that we deem necessary.