DBJ Investment in Preferred and Common Shares to Promote AeroEdge's Full-Fledged Entry into the Aircraft Engine Parts Manufacturing Business

AeroEdge Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture), manufactures and sells aircraft engine parts. The company was spun off from gear manufacturer Kikuchi Gear Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture), in 2015. At present, the company is mainly producing difficult-to-machine titanium aluminum, low-pressure turbine blades by leveraging its precision gear processing. The company has a long-term supply contract with Safran Aircraft Engines, a major overseas aircraft engine manufacturer.

AeroEdge aims to make a full-fledged entry into the aircraft engine parts manufacturing business by leveraging the technological prowess it has cultivated in gear manufacturing. In addition to helping to fortify the international competitiveness of Japan's aircraft engine industry, this project aims to contribute to the development of regional economies, mainly through the creation of jobs at the newly established Ashikaga Plant.

DBJ invested in the company's preferred shares in 2016, aiming to contribute to the creation of new value and enhanced international competitiveness of the target business by supporting the building of a business infrastructure. This includes providing knowhow related to the aircraft industry. In addition, when AeroEdge in 2018 established a mass-production system to further expand its manufacturing of low-pressure turbine blades, DBJ and six other companies underwrote the capital increases. The new capital was aimed at establishing a system that introduces cutting-edge machine tools and other equipment to quickly address customer needs with advanced technology and achieve new business development going forward.