News

Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. ("Aisin Seiki") and its US subsidiary, Aisin Automotive Casting, LLC ("AAC"), reached settlements in the class actions brought by automobile dealer plaintiffs and end-payor plaintiffs in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan (the "Court") (the "Class Actions") as follows.

1. Background of the Class Actions and the settlements

The Class Actions were filed by automobile dealer plaintiffs and end-payor plaintiffs against Aisin Seiki and AAC, alleging that Aisin Seiki and AAC had participated in a conspiracy and combination by agreeing to fix prices with respect to valve timing control devices sold in the US. Considering the possible negative impact on our business management if the Class Actions are prolonged, we have, after negotiations with the automobile dealer plaintiffs and the end-payor plaintiffs, reached settlements with the plaintiffs.

2. Parties to the settlement agreements and the settlement amount

End-payor plaintiffs: US$18,620,000 (approximately ¥1.9 billion)
Automobile dealer plaintiffs: US$5,880,000 (approximately ¥600 million)

The settlement is subject to the approval of the Court.

3. Effect on our financials

The payment of the settlement amount does not have any material effect on our consolidated financial forecast for this fiscal year.
The Class Actions were brought with respect to practices that took place prior to February 2010, which were subject to investigations by the United States Department of Justice, which does not infer that further violations were discovered. We, the Aisin Group, will devote every effort to restore trust by taking comprehensive measures to prevent a recurrence of the aforementioned types of practices, including the implementation of an even more stringent business audit system and enhanced training on compliance with relevant rules and regulations including competition laws.