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 Benesse Corporation announced today that it will increase its shareholding to 50.05% in Shinken-AD Co., Ltd., an affiliated company specializing in providing advertising, marketing and other support services to universities, colleges and institutions of higher education in Japan. Benesse plans to complete the acquiring of Shinken-AD shares by the end of October to increase its holding from 35.04% to 50.05%, which will make this affiliated company a consolidated subsidiary of Benesse.

Against the background of lower birthrates in Japan and a dropping number of students, keen competition to pass entrance examinations to universities has been eased and has led to harsh competition among universities to recruit students. This social and cultural shift has created growing business opportunities to support universities and colleges, which need to attract more students by enhancing their career guidance programs for students and offering unique academic and extra-curricular opportunities to them. In order to seize these opportunities and enter into business with universities, Benesse has decided to elevate its shareholding in Shinken-AD and make it a subsidiary.

Benesse has been a forerunner in providing support services and products to high schools, including Shinkenzemi Simulated Exams, Japan's largest simulated exams for high school students, as well as offering career and academic counseling programs. Approximately 70% of high schools in Japan are clients of Benesse. A long-time support service provider to institutions of higher education, Shinken-AD has an extended client list, as many as 600 four-year universities and colleges from a total of 702 in Japan (as of fiscal 2003). Bringing Benesse's expertise in career guidance programs for high school students together with Shinken-AD's resources and marketing capability accumulated in its services for universities, the Benesse group plans to expand and enrich support services to universities, mainly in the areas of pre-admittance guidance and career development programs. Consolidating Shinken-AD is a major step for the Benesse group and will make it even stronger as a comprehensive support provider to higher education institutions.

Inclusion of Shinken-AD on a consolidated basis is expected to have only a slight impact on Benesse's sales and profits for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004.

Outline of Shinken-AD Co., Ltd.,
Established: 1983
Capital: 65 million yen
President: Hiroshi Yamamoto
Employees: 247 (as of July 2003)
Sales: 8 billion yen (fiscal 2002)
Address: 2-4-1 Terauchi Ryokuchi station building, Toyonaka, OSAKA
(8 branches: Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Taipei )

Major businesses:
1) Student recruiting services: Shinken Press and other information magazines for high school students and students of high promise for university work; Web advertising; Event planning (seminars and meetings, introducing higher education); Advertisement creation and publicity (news papers, magazines, TV, radio)
2) Higher education reform services: Research projects; Entrance examination analysis; Remedial/Developmental education
3) Life improvement services (information on how to re-enter graduate schools and the benefits of higher education): Corporate advertisement development and production for the Shinken Press, and advertisement development, production and media planning/buying for graduate schools
4) Career support services: Aptitude tests and self-evaluation tests for students and mid-career people