Major trading house Nissho Iwai Corp. will set up a new company in April by spinning off the administrative division at its corporate headquarters in Tokyo to streamline operations, company officials said Wednesday.
The division has 580 workers in the general affairs, accounting, personnel affairs and other departments, and 440 of them will be transferred to the new company, the officials said.
The remaining 140 workers, such as executive secretaries and public relations officials, will remain in the head office but be reduced to 80 within three years.
The new company will have 10 subsidiaries to offer accounting and other services to the Nissho Iwai group and outside companies.
The company estimates the spinoff will save it hundreds of millions of yen in annual expenses.
Nissho Iwai has been aggressively spinning off operations with an eye toward becoming a holding company in the future.