Index Corp., the leading distributor of content for mobile phones, said Monday it has formed a capital alliance with and will become the largest shareholder of toy maker Takara Co.
Separately, KDDI Corp., operator of the au cell phone service, said it will invest in a subsidiary of online auctioneer DeNA Co., which will be in charge of an Internet auction site specially designed for mobile phone users.
Both Index and KDDI said their actions are intended to strengthen their mobile phone content services. Analysts said they anticipate more such tieups in the information technology sector.
Index bought 20.1 million Takara shares, or a 22.2 percent stake, for 11 billion yen from game software developer Konami Corp.
Konami sold the Takara shares after deciding to end their nearly 5-year-old capital alliance due to disappointment with Takara's business performance.
Konami formed the capital alliance with Takara through a third-party allocation of shares in July 2000 after the toy maker requested the tieup amid financial problems.
But Takara's business diversification and related plans did not meet with success and Konami decided to dissolve the capital alliance, the software developer said.
Konami said losses at the equity-method affiliate are expected to cut its group net profit by about 3 billion yen in fiscal 2004, which ended in March.
KDDI, for its part, said it will acquire 30 percent of the outstanding shares of the DeNA subsidiary to be set up in June for 300 million yen.
The tieup is meant to further solidify business relations between KDDI and DeNA, which have been jointly operating an auction site through the au service since January.