OREANDA-NEWS. ITOCHU Corporation, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, ITOCHU Petroleum Co., (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (headquartered in Singapore), has entered into an agreement with AEGIS LOGISTICS LIMITED (headquartered in Mumbai, India; hereinafter "Aegis") under which ITOCHU has purchased 40% of the shares of Aegis's wholly-owned subsidiary, AEGIS GROUP INTERNATIONAL PTE.LTD. (headquartered in Singapore; hereinafter "AGI") for USD 5,850,000.

Aegis owns and operates receiving terminals for LPG, petroleum products and chemicals at various locations in India, including Mumbai, one of the biggest LPG demand areas in India, and is engaged in terminaling and logistics businesses, and also through AGI, sourcing, shipping and supply of LPG to the Indian market. By acquiring a 40% interest in AGI, which supplies about 700,000 metric tons of LPG per year to the Indian market, ITOCHU aims to expand AGI's supply business to the Indian market by providing expertise obtained from its own LPG supply and distribution businesses in Japan and other Asian countries.

It is highly expected that the volume of seaborne LPG trade (64 million metric tons in 2013) will be increased with the abundant growth in LPG supply from shale gas fields in North America. Currently, total LPG demand in India is 16 million metric tons (the same as in Japan), which is second only to United States (51 million metric tons) and China (26 million metric tons). The net import volume is expected to keep increasing and exceed 24 million metric tons in 2021, with population growth, income growth and clean energy policies implemented by Indian government.

ITOCHU currently trades 5.0 million metric tons of LPG to the markets in Japan, Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and other Asian countries. Through the acquisition of shares of AGI, ITOCHU will expand its LPG activities to the India market where definitive increases in both total demand and net imports are expected.