Shopping center operator Parco Co. has formed a partnership with Singapore's CapitaMalls Asia Ltd. to expand in Japan and China.
The two companies will cooperate in developing new and existing shopping malls in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities in China, Parco said in a statement Wednesday.
The two firms may also operate a new shopping mall in Japan, the Tokyo-based company said.
An alliance with CapitaMalls, which runs the ION Orchard shopping mall in Singapore, may help Parco's tenants enter the Chinese market, the company said.
Parco, 33.2 percent owned by Mori Trust Co., is trying to expand in China, the world's fastest growing major economy, as its home market risks entering another recession because of the March 11 disaster, according to Morgan Stanley.
"There will be a lot of opportunities" for cooperation, Hidekazu Hirano, president of Parco, said at a press conference in Tokyo the same day.
The two companies will probably agree on the details of their partnership by July, he said. CapitaMalls, a unit of Southeast Asia's biggest developer, made 32 percent of its sales last year, amounting to 245 million Singapore dollars, in China.
Parco hasn't discussed forming an equity alliance with CapitaMalls, Hirano said.
Parco is opposing a proposal from its biggest shareholder, Mori Trust Co., to appoint 10 directors.
Aeon Co., Parco's second-biggest stockholder, had approached Mori to join a corporate governance proposal that the shopping-mall operator said it rejected.
Shopping center operator Parco Co. has formed a partnership with Singapore's CapitaMalls Asia Ltd. to expand in Japan and China.