Hankyu Hanshin Holdings


Hankyu Hanshin Holdings, Inc. is a Japanese multinational keiretsu holding company which owns Hankyu Corporation, the Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., Toho, and affiliate companies.
On October 1, 2006, Hankyu Holdings changed its name to the present corporate name following the merger with Hanshin Electric Railway. On the same day Hankyu Corporation Group was renamed Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Group, and the Hankyu Toho Group renamed Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group.
The operations of the company are centered on transportation, retailing, real estate, entertainment and media.
The transportation segment is the company's main cashflow generating business and comprises the railway companies Hanshin Electric Railway and Hankyu Railway. It also includes the smaller railway lines of Hokushin Kyūkō Electric Railway and Nose Electric Railway, as well as equity stakes in Kita-Osaka Kyūkō Railway, Sanyo Electric Railway, Osaka Monorail and Kobe Electric Railway. The company also owns various taxi and bus franchises.
Hankyu and Hanshin also both had air cargo and express freight subsidiaries, which were combined in the Hankyu Hanshin Express Holdings company.
The retailing business is mainly concentrated in the company's large shareholding of H2O Retailing, the company formed via the merger of the Hankyu and Hanshin Department Store companies.
The company owns and operates many hotels, and is developing real estate projects mainly on land along its railway lines through its subsidiary Hankyu Realty, which was previously separately listed, but fully acquired through a stock swap in 2002. It has spun off some of its vast real estate holdings into a REIT company, Hankyu Hanshin Properties.
The group has a controlling stake in Toho, which next to its many media interests has also large real estate interests. Other companies in the entertainment area include the Hanshin Tigers and the Takarazuka Revue, and stakes in Kansai TV and FM Osaka, as well as tourism operations.

Major shareholders

Japan Trustee Services Bank, various accounts11.06%
Nippon Life Insurance3.35%
The Master Trust Bank of Japan3.00%
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation2.43%
H2O Retailing1.60%
Mitsubishi UFJ0.88%
Takenaka Corporation0.73%

In 2006, the activist Fund Privee Zurich Turnaround Group run by Kenzo Matsumara took a major stake in Hankyu Holdings, hoping to boost efficiencies in the very diverse holdings of the Hankyu-Toho group. However, the takeover of Hanshin Electric Railway by Hankyu in the wake of the affair surrounding Fund Manager Yoshiaki Murakami and the establishment by Hankyu management of anti-takeover measures, as well as the global financial crisis resulted in Privee reducing its stake in the company in 2008.

Listed companies in which Hankyu Hanshin Holdings directly holds a stake

Hankyu once owned of a professional baseball team in Japan, known as the Hankyu Braves. In 1988, the team was sold to Orient Leasing Co. and the team name became the Orix BlueWave and later the Orix Buffaloes. The Hankyu Braves were sold by then-president of Hankyu, Kohei Kobayashi, to finance the redevelopment of Umeda Station and Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi Station. By acquiring Hanshin Electric Railway, Hankyu-Hanshin Holdings became the owner of the baseball team Hanshin Tigers.