Press Releases 2019

Attachment 1 Schematic Diagram of the Business Integration

Current status
(As of today)
① The Joint Tender Offer (Joint tender offer for
LINE shares, etc.)
And
② The Squeeze-out
  1. SoftBank and the NAVER Offerors will jointly conduct the Joint Tender Offer for the purpose of taking LINE private. The commencement of the Joint Tender Offer is targeted to occur during the period from May to June 2020, and the Tender Offer Period is intended to be at least 30 business days, but it is difficult to accurately predict the amount of time required for procedures, etc. with the competition authorities in Japan and abroad, and therefore the detailed schedule of the Joint Tender Offer will be announced as soon as it is finalized. The aggregate amount of the purchase price is expected to be approximately 372.0 billion yen, with SoftBank and the NAVER Offerors each purchasing 50%.
  2. In the event that the Joint Tender Offer is completed and all of the Target Shares have not been acquired in the Joint Tender Offer, the Squeeze-out using a reverse share split or other methods will be deployed to take LINE private and to make SoftBank and the NAVER Offerors the only shareholders of LINE, and will provide LINE shareholders with the same amount as the Tender Offer Price in the Joint Tender Offer.
③ The Tender Offer for ZHD Shares
And
④ The Bond Issuance (Issuance of corporate bond by LINE)
  1. LINE will conduct the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares for the purpose of acquiring all ZHD shares held by Shiodome Z Holdings. The commencement of the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares is targeted to occur in early September 2020, but it is difficult to accurately predict the amount of time required for procedures, etc. with the competition authorities in Japan and abroad, and therefore, the detailed schedule of the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares will be announced as soon as it is finalized. In addition, the aggregate amount of the purchase price will be the number of shares to be purchased (2,125,366,950 shares) multiplied by the tender offer price pertaining to the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares (348 yen (or, if the lesser of (ⅰ) the closing price of ZHD shares on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on the business day before the date of commencement of the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares and (ⅱ) the simple average closing price over the past one month to the same date, discounted by 5% (rounded down to the nearest yen), is below 348 yen, then such amount); however, the specific amount is still to be finalized.
  2. Prior to the settlement of the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares, LINE will issue bonds with SoftBank as the underwriter in order to secure the purchase funds for the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares. SoftBank and NAVER have agreed that the amount to be paid for the Bond Issuance will be equivalent to the aggregate amount of the purchase price in the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares.
⑤ The Merger (Merger of Shiodome Z Holdings and LINE)
And
⑥ The JV Conversion Transaction (Transaction to adjust the voting rights ratio in LINE held by SoftBank and the NAVER Offerors to 50:50)
  1. After completion of the settlement of the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares, the Merger will be conducted with Shiodome Z Holdings as the company ceasing to exist in the Merger and LINE as the surviving company. Assuming the total number of issued and outstanding LINE Shares and shares of ZHD is that of September 30 2019 (excluding treasury shares), 180,882,293 new LINE Shares will be issued in consideration of the Merger, all of which will be allocated to SoftBank, which is the parent of Shiodome Z Holdings. The Merger is scheduled to be effective in October 2020.
  2. By the day before the settlement start date of the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares, SoftBank and the NAVER Offerors will undertake a shareholding adjustment transaction in order to make the ratio of voting rights in LINE held by SoftBank and the NAVER Offerors 50:50 immediately after the Merger becomes effective, which transaction shall take the form of a transfer by SoftBank of a portion of the LINE Shares held by SoftBank to the NAVER Offerors immediately after the Merger becomes effective. Through the Tender Offer for ZHD Shares and the JV Conversion Transaction, LINE will become a consolidated subsidiary of SoftBank.
⑦ The Corporate Demerger (Demerger by LINE of all of its business to the LINE Successor)
  1. At the same time as the Merger becomes effective, LINE will contribute all of its business (except for its shares in ZHD and the status, rights, and obligations in connection with the contracts entered into by LINE with respect to the Business Integration and any other rights and obligations specified in the absorption-type demerger agreement) to the LINE Successor to be newly established by LINE in the Merger. The Corporate Demerger is scheduled to be effective in October 2020.
⑧ The Share Exchange (Share exchange between ZHD and LINE)
  1. After the Corporate Demerger becomes effective, a share exchange will be conducted with ZHD shares as consideration whereby ZHD becomes the wholly owning parent company and the LINE Successor becomes the wholly owned subsidiary company. The exchange ratio for the Share Exchange (allotted ratio of ZHD Shares to be exchanged for one share of the LINE Successor) is 11.75, and the Share Exchange is scheduled to be effective in October 2020.
After the Business Integration