Taiyo Pacific Partners L.P. Becomes Major Shareholder in Raccoon Holdings, Inc. with Stake over 9%

TOKYO, December 10, 2021 - Taiyo Pacific Partners announced today that it has accumulated in excess of 9% in Raccoon Holdings, Inc. (3031). Taiyo Pacific Partners is known for its cooperative investment style working with senior management to enhance shareholder value.

Brian K. Heywood, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Taiyo Pacific Partners, said, “Hundreds of years ago Japanese merchants from Ohmi created the sanpo yoshi (“three way benefit”) philosophy of business. They created a network of trusted buyers and sellers that led to broad-based economic development. Now ~200 years later Raccoon has built a sanpo yoshi online ecosystem for modern-day Japanese small and medium enterprises. With their e-commerce platform and fintech business Raccoon is bringing efficiencies of scale and trust to historically fragmented markets. We think penetration of these services remains in the single digits relative to their total addressable market, and believe President Ogata and his team have the leadership potential to continue expanding their platform for years to come.”

Michael A. King, Chief Investment Officer and Managing Partner of Taiyo Pacific Partners, said, “We are excited to see Raccoon has been able to continuously grow their EC business user base with both repeat purchasers and sellers on the Super Delivery platform consistently increasing over the past 4 years. With recent success expanding sales rapidly in Taiwan and North America we are also looking forward to strong growth as Raccoon helps Japanese manufacturers reach overseas markets efficiently. I was also impressed with Raccoon’s ability to grow revenue and keep over 20% OP margins despite increased upfront spending in the most recent August-October 2021 quarter, despite the large hit to overall Japanese retail sales caused by the state of emergency.”

President Isao Ogata commented, “Our corporate philosophy is to ‘make corporate activities more efficient and convenient’. Leveraging our expertise in IT and finance enabled us to build services that make transactions between companies more efficient in e-commerce, payment settlement, and guarantees. Through continuous discussions Taiyo Pacific Partners deeply understands our businesess and management strategy. I believe Taiyo’s investment represents their analysis of our significant future potential, and we will work towards answering those expectations with continued efforts to realize higher corporate value and sustainable growth.”

Taiyo Pacific Partners, located in Kirkland, Washington, was founded in 2003 by Asia-focused professionals dedicated to friendly shareholder activism in Japan and other Asian countries. The firm currently manages over $3.7 billion in Japan-focused funds. All strategies employ a friendly engagement approach.

Contacts

Taiyo Pacific Partners
Brian K. Heywood, 425-896-5300
[email protected]