OREANDA-NEWS. Electric Power Development Co., Ltd (the “Company”) hereby announces that its Board of Directors resolved on February 17, 2015 to issue new shares, dispose of treasury shares and conduct a secondary offering of its shares as set forth below. The circumstances surrounding energy and electricity supply changed dramatically following the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused by the earthquake in eastern Japan in March 2011. In the “Strategic Energy Plan”, which was approved by the Japanese cabinet in April 2014, coal-fired thermal energy is considered to be an important base-load electricity source which can be operated stably and at low cost.

The significance of coal-fired thermal energy is increasing as a fall in base-load supply is expected as the level of reliance on nuclear powered energy is decreasing. In such an environment, the business opportunities are expanding for the J-POWER Group, which is a leader in coal-fired thermal power generation in Japan with cutting-edge coal-fired thermal power generation technology (clean coal technology).

The Group is currently developing new projects such as the new No. 1 Unit of Takehara Thermal Power Plant (600MW in Hiroshima Prefecture), the Kashima Power project (640MW in Ibaraki Prefecture, a 50:50 joint venture with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation), and renewable energy projects such as wind power and geothermal power. This financing serves the purpose of progressing the above-mentioned and other projects of the J-POWER Group and the net proceeds will be applied in part towards capital investments in respect of these projects. We are also intending on investing in anticipated new business opportunities in Japan and overseas and working to put aframework in place that will enable J-POWER to successfully navigate the future competitive environment coming from electricity system reform by using this financing to increase our capital base and achieve greater flexibility for subsequent financings.