SUGI Holdings Co. Ltd. announced that it has agreed to enter into a business partnership with Excellent Wellbeing International Co. Ltd. Operating more than 1,600 stores in the Kanto, Chubu, Kansai and Hokuriku areas, the SUGI Pharmacy Group boasts approximately 4,000 pharmacists and approximately 500 nationally certified dieticians.

Taking advantage of its position as an operator of prescription-dispensing drugstores featuring such staff, the Group is proceeding with its Total Healthcare Strategy, which is designed to support local residents' lifetime efforts in disease prevention and health management and to contribute to their good health. In recent years, the Group has been promoting business development not only in Japan but also in the Asian region by leveraging its management and operational know-how cultivated in Japan and its ability to supply products, especially those developed in-house by the Company. The Group has established business partnerships with leading local companies in Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia, building strong trusting relationships and generating a high degree of synergies through many joint projects, such as the provision of management and operational know-how and the supply of products centered on those developed in-house by The Company.

In the future, the Group will also work with like-minded leading local companies in other Asian countries, aiming to further expand its network so that it can contribute to the promotion of good health throughout Asia. On the other hand, EWI is an international brand management company for healthcare and beauty products headquartered in Hong Kong and has built its own supply chain system. The company operates a wide range of businesses, mainly including a wholesale business for major drugstores with international operations, etc., a retail business that combines online and offline services, a product planning and marketing business for original brands such as DRZERO, and a B-to-C logistics business for cross-border EC operators in the Asian region.

This business partnership is designed to further evolve such efforts of both companies and facilitate greater business development of the two companies through mutual trading of products handled by each company, planning, development, manufacturing and sales of co-branded products., and establishment of logistics bases for rationalization of supply chains in the Asian region.