Press Releases

January 5, 2006

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

OSAKA, JAPAN --- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda", President & COO: Yasuchika Hasegawa) announced today that all of Takeda's shares of BASF Takeda Vitamin K.K. ("BTV", President: Akihiko Sato) were transferred to BASF Japan Ltd. ("BASF Japan", President: Tomoyoshi Naruo) on January 4, 2006, based on the original joint venture agreement between BASF Japan and Takeda concluded in January 2001.

BTV was established as a joint venture between BASF Japan (66%), a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF Aktiengesellshaft (Head Office: Ludwigshafen Germany) and Takeda (34%), and vitamin bulk business of both parties were transferred and combined at BTV in January 2001. The transfer of shares held by Takeda to BASF Japan this time is stipulated in the original agreement to take place five years after the transfer of Takeda's vitamin bulk business.

Since start of operation in 2001, BTV has been steadily expanding its business as one of the leading suppliers of bulk vitamins, premixes and pharmaceutical excipients in Japan.

"Our former bulk vitamin business has been successfully transferred to BTV, achieving growth till now,“ said Yasuchika Hasegawa, President & COO of Takeda. "We believe that  BASF Japan will maintain the leading position in bulk vitamin business in Japan with enough competitive business foundations."

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