Ex-Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Chief Kazuo Sumi Dies at 76

   Osaka, May 7 (Jiji Press)--Kazuo Sumi, former president and chairman of railway operator Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., died at his house in the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, on April 26, it was learned Wednesday. He was 76.
   A Hyogo native, Sumi joined Hankyu Corp., a railway operator in the Kansai western Japan region, including Hyogo, in 1973 and became its president in 2003 after serving in posts such as head of the firm's railway business headquarters.
   Later, Sumi became president of Hankyu Holdings Inc., which was transformed from Hankyu Corp.
   Under Sumi's leadership, Hankyu Holdings began to buy shares of Hanshin Electric Railway Co. to protect the major rival from an attempt by an investment fund led by activist shareholder Yoshiaki Murakami to massively buy Hanshin shares.
   Through the move, Sumi played a key role in the creation of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings in October 2006, which marked the first business integration between major private railway firms in Japan's postwar history.

(2025/05/07-14:23)