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Sometime around 11-May-2019 Kokuyo indirectly purchased a 37.45% stake in Pentel for $92 Million USD. This is an odd tie-up as it seems like it is some sort of cooperative arrangement, not consolidation. Normally you would think of Kokuyo and Pentel as face to face competitors. More below excerpted from the referenced articles, which I suggest you read. Kokuyo only makes about 20% of its stationery-related sales overseas, while Pentel generates over 60% of its revenue abroad through roughly 20 foreign sites. The companies' products are also complementary, given Kokuyo's strength in notebooks and Pentel's know-how in writing instruments. Pentel booked sales of 40.9 billion yen in the year ended March 2018. Kokuyo has sales of 315.1 billion yen.[1] Kokuyo said that “there is a business environment in which it is essential for companies with solid strengths to build alliances with each other and create new value to continuously improve corporate value in the global stationary domain.”[2] References: 1. Japanese stationery sharpens global push with Kokuyo-Pentel tie-up https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Japanese-stationery-sharpens-global-push-with-Kokuyo-Pentel-tie-up 2. Kokuyo invests in Pentel http://office-times.com/News/11676/kokuyo_invests_in_pentel