News Release
Cool Japan Fund Inc.
Tokyo, March 25, 2016

LP Investment in a Fund Promoting Japanese Food, Agricultural Exports
to the Middle East
Cool Japan Fund has decided to make a strategic LP investment of up to 40 million US dollars in theGulf Japan Food Fund, which was newly formed by Mizuho Bank Ltd. and The Norinchukin Bank.
The fund, launched its investment business on March 3, 2016, is a private equity fund which aims toprovide financial support toward expanding exports of Japanese agricultural, forestry and fisheries
products as well as improving food security in the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)(Note 1).

Through the Gulf Japan Food Fund, Cool Japan Fund anticipates that safe and world-class quality
agricultural, forestry and fisheries products and foods from Japan will be firmly established among thepeople of the Middle East and that Japanese brands will gain wide prominence in the Middle East byutilizing Japan’s advanced cutting-edge technology, which creates such products, to build a food value
chain in the Middle East.
In the context of the Japanese government’s “Japan Revitalization Strategy”, with a 1 trillion-yen targetset for the export of food, agricultural and forestry products by 2020, development of a specificframework to expand exports by food-related industries is required. On the other hand, food security
is a major policy challenge in the Middle East countries. Strong demand exists for safe high-quality
foods and support for technology that will enhance efficiency and add value to food production andprocessing in the region.
Amid these conditions, Mizuho Bank and The Norinchukin Bank formed a private equity fund, Gulf
Japan Food Fund (Note 2), aimed at providing financial support in response to the need to expand exportsof Japanese agricultural, forestry and fisheries products, while also meeting improvement of foodsecurity in GCC countries. The fund, operated by Mizuho Gulf Capital Partners Ltd. that wasestablished in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mizuho Bank,
started its investment business on March 3, 2016.

Inquiries regarding this document:
Cool Japan Fund (Yuge/Okuyama, PR) Tel: 03-6406-7500

Cool Japan Fund decided to make a strategic LP investment of up to 40 million US dollars in the fund.
In addition, investments from the Middle East have been decided, namely that from the Gulf
Investment Corporation (GIC), the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) and the National Investments
Development Company (TANMIA) of the government of Oman.
The fund’s objective is to grow and promote food- and agriculture-related businesses (Note 3) for Japan
and GCC countries by investing in newly established joint ventures, with coordination between
corporations in Japan and the Middle East, while aiming to create added value and markets that arespawned by new alliances and partnerships that capitalize on platform functions that match Japanese
corporations with those in the Middle East.
Through the Gulf Japan Food Fund, Cool Japan Fund anticipates that world-class, high-quality andsafe agricultural, forestry and fisheries products and foods from Japan will be firmly established among
the people of the Middle East. By utilizing the cutting-edge Japanese technology that develops suchproducts to build a food value chain in the Middle East, Cool Japan Fund also expects that Japanesebrands will gain prominence throughout the region.

[Notes]
Note 1) A total of six countries that are member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, the United ArabEmirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.
Note 2) Both banks established and became shareholders of Gulf Japan Food Fund GP (registered in the British territory ofCayman Islands) on July 29, 2015, ahead of this project.
Note 3) (1) Import and export business; (2) Cultivation business; (3) Processing business; (4) Distribution business; (5) Sales
business and (6) Food industry infrastructure business.

[Gulf Japan Food Fund]
Start of business

March 3, 2016

Total fund size390 million US dollars

TermCommitment period: six years from start of business (March 3, 2016)
Overall fund period: 10 years from the start of business (with an option toextend for two years)

Inquiries regarding this document:
Cool Japan Fund (Yuge/Okuyama, PR) Tel: 03-6406-7500

Main investment areas

GCC countries and Japan

Targeted businesses for investment Industries that make up the food value chain and relatedindustries―Import and export, cultivation, processing, distribution,sales, food industry infrastructure businesses, etc.
Investment format

Equities and equity-linked method(investment in common shares, preferred shares, etc.)

Inquiries regarding this document:
Cool Japan Fund (Yuge/Okuyama, PR) Tel: 03-6406-7500