Vistaprint N.V. (Nasdaq: VPRT), a leading online provider of
professional marketing products and services to micro businesses and the
home, and Plaza Create Co., Ltd., a leading Japanese retailer of photo
products, announced the companies have entered into a definitive
agreement to form a joint venture in Japan. The venture should
strengthen both companies’ ability to serve Japanese customers through
the combination of Vistaprint’s technology, manufacturing expertise and
e-commerce experience with Plaza Create’s reputation for customer
service and quality products, its knowledge of the Japanese market and
its network of more than 600 retail outlets throughout the country.
Currently Plaza Create primarily services the home and family market.
Its core offering includes photo prints, cameras, accessories and
cloud-based photo storage services. But there are over 10 million
self-employed people and small businesses in Japan and the joint venture
will offer a broad array of home and family and small business marketing
products both online and at Plaza Create’s retail stores.
“Vistaprint has built a strong initial base of business in Japan over
the past few years, despite serving the market remotely,” said Robert
Keane, president and chief executive officer of Vistaprint. “However we
believe we must strengthen our commitment to Japan by building a strong
domestic presence. We are excited to partner with Plaza Create to help
achieve our mutual goals. Its stores are well known and trusted by
consumers throughout Japan and we believe forming a joint venture will
benefit the key constituents of both companies over the long term.”
Each company will contribute its Japanese online business to the joint
venture, and products will also be available on computer kiosks within
Plaza Create’s Palette Plaza and 55 Station stores throughout Japan.
Upon the closing of the transaction, Robert Keane will serve as the
joint venture’s chairman and a representative director, and Yasuhiro
Oshima, president of Plaza Create, will serve as the joint venture’s
president and a representative director.
“We are pleased to form this partnership with Vistaprint,” said Mr.
Oshima. “The combination of our product offerings and unique skill sets
will create a broad and compelling value proposition for both Japanese
consumers and small businesses. Taking advantage of the relative
strengths of our online and offline channels, we can offer comprehensive
printing services with a high level of convenience, customer service and
trust. Many of our customers are small business owners and Vistaprint is
renowned for bringing innovative products to market at affordable
prices. We look forward to enabling more small businesses in Japan to
promote their business in a professional and affordable way, and to
expanding and growing our customer value proposition through our joint
venture.”
Subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, Vistaprint and
Plaza Create will each invest approximately $5 million USD (500 million
JPY) to form the new joint venture. In addition, Vistaprint will become
a Plaza Create minority shareholder through the purchase of
approximately $5 million USD of Plaza Create shares. The transaction is
expected to be completed in February, 2014, at which point Vistaprint
would become a 51% owner of the joint venture and Plaza Create would be
a 49% owner. Vistaprint does not expect this transaction to have a
material financial impact in fiscal 2014. Over time, we expect to
jointly build a production facility in Japan in order to fulfill orders
and better meet local delivery needs for our customers.
About Vistaprint
Vistaprint N.V. (Nasdaq: VPRT) empowers
more than 17 million micro businesses and consumers annually with
affordable, professional options to make an impression. With a unique
business model supported by proprietary technologies, high-volume
production facilities, and direct marketing expertise, Vistaprint offers
a wide variety of products and services that micro businesses can use to
expand their business. A global company, Vistaprint employs over 4,100
people, operates more than 25 localized websites globally and ships to
more than 130 countries around the world. Vistaprint's broad range of
products and services are easy to access online, 24 hours a day at www.vistaprint.com.
About Plaza Create
In 1986, Plaza Create opened a
ground-breaking photo-print shop, which changed the history of photo
print and developed the era of speed-printing. Following that, it
expanded the network of its shops throughout Japan with two brands,
“Palette Plaza” and “55 Station,” and continued to challenge the
development of production and services, taking advantage of knowledge
accumulated through speed-printing and the expansion of chains. Plaza
Create has approximately 600 shops all over Japan, and, in particular,
in the Tokyo metropolitan area, it has a strong market share in respect
of the number of photo-printing shops. In the online area, Plaza Create
operates its online photo-printing service under the “Digipri” brand.
Vistaprint and the Vistaprint logo are trademarks of Vistaprint N.V. or
its subsidiaries. All other brand and product names appearing on this
announcement may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
This press release contains statements about the proposed joint venture
and future expectations, plans and prospects of Vistaprint’s and the
joint venture’s business that constitute forward-looking statements for
purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to
the anticipated timing for closing the transaction, the benefits and
synergies of the joint venture, and the expected future business and
success of the joint venture. Actual results may differ materially from
those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of
various important factors, including but not limited to the parties’
ability to complete the proposed transaction, the receipt of any
required regulatory or other approvals in connection with the
transaction, the ability to realize anticipated synergies as a result of
the transaction, the parties’ failure to collaborate effectively, the
failure of the joint venture to acquire new customers and retain the
parties’ current customers, the failure of the joint venture to perform
as expected, competitive pressures, general economic conditions, and
other factors described in Vistaprint’s Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter
ended September 30, 2013 and the other documents that Vistaprint
periodically files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In addition, the statements and projections in this press release
represent the parties’ expectations and beliefs as of the date of this
press release, and subsequent events and developments may cause these
expectations, beliefs, and projections to change. The parties
specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon
as representing our expectations or beliefs as of any date subsequent to
the date of this press release.
Copyright Business Wire 2013