Mitsui, JR West, Japanese Fund to Invest in Brazil Rail Business

Tokyo, Dec. 9 (Jiji Press)--Mitsui & Co. <8031>, West Japan Railway Co. <9021> and a Japanese public-private investment fund said Wednesday they will jointly invest in an urban passenger rail development and investment company in Brazil. West Japan Railway, or JR West, and Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport & Urban Development, or JOIN, will jointly acquire a 49.9 pct stake in a Mitsui unit that owns 40 pct of the Brazilian company, Odebrecht Mobilidade SA, in a deal estimated at around 10 billion yen. The Odebrecht group, a major conglomerate in Brazil, holds the remaining 60 pct of Odebrecht Mobilidade. Mitsui, a major Japanese trading house, JR West and JOIN will participate in four urban rail development projects undertaken by Odebrecht Mobilidade. This is JR West's first investment in an overseas rail business. The company said it hopes that the participation into overseas rail projects will become a new source of growth. JOIN will support the Brazilian projects by facilitating talks with local authorities and sending engineers. The fund was set up in October last year to promote Japanese companies' participation into overseas infrastructure projects. END