Image Information Inc. (TSE: 3803) agreed to take over a CRM call-centre business, with an effective date of October 1, for ¥170mn in cash before consumption tax, to be paid in one lump sum from cash on hand. The company disclosed the terms in an extraordinary report filed on October 6, after its board approved the deal and signed the transfer agreement on September 28.
What the buyer gets
The business runs call centres at two sites, Shinjuku and Kawasaki. Staff make outbound calls to existing customers of large telecom, payment and energy companies, with the aim of upselling, cross-selling and preventing cancellations. Image Information says the unit earns stable revenue from continuing business with large telecom and payment clients, and plans to add it to its BPO and services segment.
The 85 employees working in the business, both full-time and part-time, are to move to Image Information on the effective date, each with their own consent.
Price and numbers
The business had sales of ¥494mn and operating profit of ¥86mn in the year to May 2026. Those figures come from divisional numbers supplied by the seller, a Tokyo sales-support and call-centre company, and have not been audited.
The ¥170mn price compares with a discounted-cash-flow valuation range of ¥146mn to ¥199mn from an independent third-party valuer. Image Information says the price was agreed between the parties after financial and legal due diligence.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Seller | A Tokyo sales-support and call-centre company |
| Price | ¥170mn cash, excluding consumption tax |
| Valuer's DCF range | ¥146mn to ¥199mn |
| Board approval and agreement | September 28, 2026 |
| Effective date | October 1, 2026 |
| Employees due to transfer | 85, each with their own consent |
| Year to May 2026 sales / operating profit | ¥494mn / ¥86mn (unaudited) |
The assets and liabilities to be transferred are small. Estimated book values at July 31, 2026 were ¥44.7mn of assets, mainly ¥26.7mn of security deposits and ¥18.0mn of tangible fixed assets, against ¥16.6mn of liabilities, chiefly an asset-retirement obligation of ¥15.6mn. The final scope and amounts are set under the agreement as of the effective date.
Transition and the AI plan
For some clients, contracts are to be transferred after the effective date. Until they are, expected to take one to two months from the effective date, Image Information plans to take on the work as a subcontractor to the seller. That subcontracted work is expected to be about 15% of the business.
Image Information says it wants to put its own and fonfun's AI development resources into the call-centre work to automate it and lift profitability quickly. The two companies have an alliance covering shared engineering resources and a study of generative-AI-based BPO. The report describes this as an aim, and it gives no automation results or revenue commitments.
The report says there is no capital, personnel or business relationship between Image Information and the seller. It describes the purchase as part of an M&A-led plan to rebuild earnings, announced with new management on May 14, 2026.