Strategic Capital Announces Shareholder Proposals to Nippon Steel and Osaka Steel, Scheduled to Launch Special Website

Strategic Capital, Inc. (SC), acting as a discretionary investment manager for JAPAN-UP, has announced shareholder proposals to Nippon Steel Corporation and its listed subsidiary, Osaka Steel Co., Ltd.

SC points out that while Nippon Steel has fully nationalized other subsidiaries recently, its approach toward Osaka Steel lacks consistency, and there is no evidence of a clear policy regarding the retention of listed subsidiaries. Furthermore, Osaka Steel has been trading below a PBR of 1x, and its management has failed to implement necessary reforms despite being under the majority control of Nippon Steel, which continues to damage shareholder value.

Key Proposals to Nippon Steel: 1. Amendment of Articles of Incorporation to establish a 'Committee on Strategy for Listed Subsidiaries' to review policies on holding such entities.

Key Proposals to Osaka Steel: 1. Repurchase of treasury stock from specific shareholders (namely Nippon Steel) at a price not particularly advantageous over other shareholders. 2. Appropriation of surplus to pay a dividend with a DOE (Dividend on Equity) of 8%.

SC will launch a special website on May 11 to provide detailed explanations and backgrounds for these proposals, which will be accessible via its corporate website (https://stracap.jp/). SC aims to improve corporate and shareholder value through dialogue and the exercise of shareholder rights.