OSAKA-- Daiwa House Industry Co. said Monday it will merge with Daiwa Danchi Co. on April 1 to reinforce sales operations.
Daiwa House will virtually absorb Daiwa Danchi under the merger, which will see each Daiwa Danchi share exchanged for 0.3 of a Daiwa House share.
Daiwa Danchi President Takeo Higuchi will be president of the merged company, while Daiwa House President Takeshi Togo will take the post of chairman.
Daiwa House, the biggest shareholder in Daiwa Danchi with an equity stake of 23.5 percent, is a leading seller of steel-frame prefabricated houses. Daiwa Danchi is strong in sales of wooden houses and condominiums.
At an Osaka press conference held to announce the merger, Togo said the merged company will implement rationalization measures such as combining outlets, with a goal of posting a pretax profit of 120 billion yen on sales of 1.5 trillion yen in fiscal 2005.
Established in 1955, Daiwa House had sales of 871.9 billion yen in fiscal 1999, which ended March 31. The company has around 11,000 employees.
Daiwa Danchi was founded in 1961 and had sales of 144.1 billion yen in fiscal 1999. It has approximately 1,200 employees.