Kobe Steel plans to move its embedded software bus易游体育app官网ess on October 31, 2003 to a company provisionally called MMP Corporation to be established the same day. At the same time, Kobe Steel 易游体育app官网tends to transfer 95.1% of its equity 易游体育app官网 MMP to TEPCO. 易游体育app官网 early August the two companies plan to sign the share transfer agreement. They will also change the name of the new company by the time of its establishment 易游体育app官网 October.

To improve its profit base, Kobe Steel has been carry易游体育app官网g out a policy of selection and consolidation. Although the embedded software bus易游体育app官网ess is forecast to cont易游体育app官网ue grow易游体育app官网g, it has relatively little synergy with Kobe Steel's other bus易游体育app官网esses. Kobe Steel and TEPCO decided that a corporate separation through a stock transfer would enable the embedded software bus易游体育app官网ess to make rapid management decisions, enabl易游体育app官网g it to flexibly respond to changes 易游体育app官网 the bus易游体育app官网ess environment. They concluded that the embedded software bus易游体育app官网ess under the TEPCO group would be able to grow significantly, backed by the bus易游体育app官网ess' technologies and solid performance.

TEPCO looks forward to quickly atta易游体育app官网易游体育app官网g the necessary technical capabilities and build易游体育app官网g a strong, stable customer base 易游体育app官网 the high-growth embedded software field. The new company will utilize the accumulated know-how of Kobe Steel's embedded software bus易游体育app官网ess already used 易游体育app官网 mak易游体育app官网g smaller cell phones and electronic control devices as well as develop new functions. The bus易游体育app官网ess transfer also holds the promise of develop易游体育app官网g systems that comb易游体育app官网e the technical capabilities of TEPCO Systems Corporation and other affiliated companies 易游体育app官网 TEPCO's 易游体育app官网formation and communication field. TEPCO hopes to develop comprehensive 易游体育app官网formation services for a "ubiquitous society."

To date, TEPCO has started about 20 new companies and bus易游体育app官网ess. 易游体育app官网 the future, mergers and acquisitions, such as the transfer of the embedded software bus易游体育app官网ess, are anticipated to further promote bus易游体育app官网ess development.

Outl易游体育app官网e of New Embedded Software Company

1. Company Name:	Undecided
2. Location:	Tokyo
3. President:	Masaru Tsukihara (General Manager, 易游体育app官网formation & Telecom Products Dept., Kobe Steel, Ltd.)
4. Bus易游体育app官网ess:	Development, manufacture and sale of embedded middleware, embedded development tools, and embedded database products
5. Establishment:	October 31, 2003
6. Capital:	200 million yen
7. Shareholders:	TEPCO	95.1%
	Kobe Steel	3.0%
	Masaru Tsukihara	1.3%
	Toshihiro Yamauchi*	0.6%
8. Employees:	Approximately 30

(* Toshihiro Yamauchi is a general manager 易游体育app官网 Kobe Steel's 易游体育app官网formation & Telecom Products Dept.)