The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm that caters to early and later stage companies, agreed to acquire Iwasaki Electric, a manufacturer of illumination lamps, for $250m. In order to achieve medium- to long-term growth as well as increase its enterprise value in the current business environment, the Company understands that it is particularly important for the growth strategy of the Company group to properly allocate resources (i.e., “people, goods and money”) among its lighting business, optics and environment business, and other businesses as well as to proactively make upfront investments in research and development and promote advanced, high-value-added products and services in both the lighting business and optics and environment business, and expand into foreign markets where the market is expected to grow due to future increases in population and where LED devices have not yet been widely adopted and further expand its overseas business.