The Sojitz alliance and preferred shares to four main banks (2021)

Not plugging a hole in capital, but choosing a counterparty

If ¥16 billion had been all that was wanted, borrowing could have produced it. Royal had in fact raised its debt from ¥3.5 billion to ¥30.1 billion during 2020, so the means of funding itself remained available. That it nonetheless chose Sojitz, through common shares and warrants, appears to lie in seeking a partner for the business rather than a party to fill a hole in the capital. If people cannot move, goods must move instead — and the awareness that it did not itself possess the function for moving goods is what set the conditions on who the provider should be.

The price, however, has been concrete. The warrants were exercised and Sojitz’s shareholding rose from 13.3% to 19.97%, diluting existing holders by that much. In-flight catering, the founding business, became a company 60% held by Sojitz and left the consolidated accounts. And although 2025 produced record profit, ¥6.8 billion of the ¥7.9 billion of ordinary profit came from the hotel business — riding a different flow of human traffic. An alliance struck to cure a dependence on people moving can also be seen as having shifted where that dependence sits.