Houlihan Lokey Advises DENSO and Toyota Tsusho

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that DENSO Corp. (DENSO) and Toyota Tsusho Corp. (Toyota Tsusho) have sold their joint venture company, TDmobile Corp. (TDmobile), a nationwide mobile phone retailer and solutions provider, to ranet Co., Ltd. (ranet). The transaction was completed on October 1, 2023.

DENSO Corp. (TYO:6902), a member of the Toyota Group, is a global manufacturer of automotive components that offers advanced automotive technologies, systems, and products, headquartered in Kariya, Japan.

Toyota Tsusho Corp. (TYO:8015), the sole trading company of the Toyota Group, engages in a wide range of businesses from trading, manufacturing, and processing to retail and services throughout the world and is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan.

TDmobile was established in 2009 as a joint venture between DENSO and Toyota Tsusho, which combined the mobile phone retail business of the two companies. It operates approximately 300 mobile phone stores nationwide and provides mobile solutions for corporate users with sales of approximately ¥76 billion (approximately US$540 million).

ranet is a wholly owned subsidiary of BIC CAMERA Inc. (TYO:3048), one of the largest consumer electric retailers in Japan. The company operates 116 mobile phone stores across Japan and sells telecommunication products in more than 200 electronics stores of the BicCamera Group. The company has sales of approximately ¥88 billion (approximately US$620 million).

TDmobile and ranet together will continue to expand both the mobile retail and corporate solutions businesses as a part of the BicCamera Group.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive sellside financial advisor to DENSO and Toyota Tsusho, shareholders of TDmobile, and assisted in marketing, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on their behalf. This is DENSO’s second sale to a non-Toyota Group company in history, following the deal closed last year for which Houlihan Lokey also acted as exclusive advisor to DENSO.

This transaction also marks the third transaction our team advised in the Japanese mobile phone sector since 2020, highlighting the firm’s deep sector expertise and proven execution capabilities.