Tokyo Century (8439): Nikkei report: Itochu to invest in aircraft leasing subsidiary ACG

Research evidence excerpt

Tokyo Century (8439): Nikkei report: Itochu to invest in aircraft leasing subsidiary ACG

J P M O R G A N Asia Pacific Equity Research

01 August 2026

Tokyo Century (8439) Overweight

8439.T, 8439 JP

Nikkei report: Itochu to invest in aircraft leasing Price (31 Jul 26):¥2,623

subsidiary ACG Price Target (Dec-27):¥3,000

According to a report in the July 31 Nikkei, Itochu Corporation (8001, covered by Japan Equity Research

Jiro Iokibe) plans to invest around ¥300 billion in Tokyo Century’s wholly owned

Insurance, Securities, Diversified

consolidated subsidiary Aviation Capital Group (ACG). This investment would Financials

leave Tokyo Century and Itochu with a 50% stake each in ACG, which would then AC Koki Sato

become an equity-method affiliate of both. Neither company has made any official

(81-3) 6736-8609

announcement about this at the time of writing, but it aligns with our July 13 report koki.sato@jpmorgan.com

in which we mentioned that possibilities for ACG included conversion into an Yuka Azami

equity-method affiliate through the acceptance of partner capital, so this comes as (81-3) 6736-8619

no surprise, including the selection of Itochu as the partner. Profits captured from yuka.azami@jpmorgan.com

ACG by Tokyo Century could be diluted near-term, but we would regard such a JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., Ltd.

management decision as positive over the medium to long term in that it could

facilitate aircraft leasing business expansion while reducing the balance sheet

burden.

• Strategic significance for Tokyo Century: ACG is designated as an

“improvement and recovery business” in the current medium-term plan,

suggesting it could be shifted off-balance-sheet. However, our analysis is that

this decision is not to withdraw from aircraft leasing services but rather to