Notice Regarding the Transfer of Shares in a Subsidiary

Sumitomo Corporation (President and CEO: Kuniharu Nakamura; hereinafter "Sumitomo") hereby announces that it has decided to transfer a 50 percent stake in subsidiary Jupiter Shop Channel Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "JSC") to a special purpose corporation to be established in Japan by Bain Capital Group (hereinafter "Bain Capital"), and has entered into a stock purchase agreement today.

JSC, the largest TV shopping company in Japan, has consistently increased its revenues since its founding in 1996 to achieve a market-leading 30 percent share of the \400 billion domestic TV shopping market. Sumitomo has worked to increase the corporate value of JSC by strengthening JSC's foundation for continued robust growth and leveraging expertise acquired in Japan to facilitate JSC's expansion into the rapidly emerging markets of China and Asia. To further strengthen and promote these efforts, Sumitomo has decided to engage Bain Capital as a business partner.

Bain Capital, with operations centered in North America, Europe, and Asia, is a leading private equity, with over $60 billion (approximately \5 trillion) in assets under management worldwide. Since its founding in 1984, Bain Capital has dispatched many professionals to provide hands-on support for the business operations of its investments, and increased the corporate values of numerous companies through solid growth strategies using its global network.

Sumitomo will continue to place JSC at the core of its multi-channel retail strategy, headed by the Media, Network & Lifestyle Retail Business Unit, and strive to further increase the revenue base of its retail business with JSC as a primary contributor. By integrating Bain Capital's knowledge and worldwide network into the robust business foundation built by JSC over the years, Sumitomo is dedicated to further increasing JSC's corporate value through the expansion of its customer base, improvement of cost competitiveness, and promotion of expansion into Asia.