Carlyle to sell KANAMEL to Nippon Television

Tokyo, Japan - 19 March 2026 - Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) today announced that it has agreed to sell KANAMEL Inc. ("KANAMEL"), a leading Japanese creative production firm and consulting business, to Nippon Television Holdings, Inc. ("Nippon Television"), which owns one of major commercial television networks in Japan. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close at the end of April 2026, will see Nippon Television acquire the remaining c.80% interest in the business, bringing its total ownership to 100% including the minority stake previously acquired in April 2025.

Carlyle acquired KANAMEL (then AOI TYO Holdings Inc.) in 2021 and has since worked closely with its management team to expand the business' high-end content production capabilities and enter the customer experience ("CX") consulting space. This includes helping companies in Japan design, build, and enhance the customer experience across digital, brand, and marketing touchpoints. Leveraging its strong content crafting capabilities, the company supports clients in redefining how they engage with customers and deliver differentiated brand experiences.

Carlyle accelerated this evolution through supporting KANAMEL's acquisition of consulting firm FIELD MANAGEMENT STRATEGY (then Field Management), which enhanced KANAMEL's capabilities in strategy and concept development. This broadened their solution offering, deepened client engagement and reinforced the business' premium positioning.

Yasuhito Nakae, Representative Director and Group CEO at KANAMEL, said: "Carlyle has played a critical role in advancing our business transformation. Through this partnership, we successfully diversified our business by leveraging our long-established creative capabilities to expand into the consulting business, supporting our clients in new ways and strengthening the foundation for our long-term growth. This level of progress would have been unattainable without their global network and deep expertise. We are excited to be joining Nippon Television. By combining our creative and production capabilities with Nippon Television's powerful media and content platform, we look forward to delivering greater value to audiences and clients not only in Japan but around the world."

Jumpei Ogura, Co-Head in the Carlyle Japan advisory team, said: "It has been a privilege to work closely with KANAMEL's exceptional management team through such a period of transformational growth. Together, we have repositioned the company as a diversified creative production and CX solutions platform. We are confident that Nippon Television is the right partner to continue the business' success, and we look forward to watching KANAMEL thrive in its next phase."

The sale of KANAMEL builds on Carlyle's well-established track record of investing in the Consumer, Healthcare, Technology and Service sectors in Japan. Investments in this space include TRYT, kaonavi, Uzabase, and Simplex. Carlyle has invested more than 700 billion yen across over 40 Japanese companies since entering the Japanese market in 2000.

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About Carlyle
Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across three business segments: Global Private Equity, Global Credit, and Carlyle AlpInvest. With $477 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2025, Carlyle's purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies, and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 2,500 people in 27 offices across four continents. Further information is available at carlyle.com. Follow Carlyle on X @OneCarlyle and LinkedIn at The Carlyle Group.

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