Pentel Co. Ltd. changing corporate name to ASTRUM CORPORATION as of 1 April 2026.
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So if this isn’t an April Fool’s joke, then I don’t know what to say?
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Me either
I know I hate the name… but who am I?
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It looks like Astrum will be the overarching company with the brands below it: PLUS, Pentel & Sailor Pens.
Kind of like Newell Rubbermaid having Rotring, Berol and Papermate among others.
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Makes sense, it would definitely be foolish to no longer have Pentel branded products.
This has happened before with quite a few stationery manufacturers. You get the feeling that something is lost in the process.
Did they really announce this on April 1? 
No, it was announced in March. The new company went into “affect” on April 1.
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Which is the first day of the fiscal year in Japan.
Lot of nervousness which I feel is unfounded. PLUS effectively owns Pentel and has for a while, from what I understand.
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No, the Pentel brand will remain the same, just the corporate name will be Astrum, which makes pretty much no difference to consumers.
From the original announcement:「また、ぺんてる（Pentel）は事業ブランドとして、これまで通り全世界において展開してまいります。」
I think PLUS Group is still the overarching company, PLUS brand, Sailor, Nippon Note (Apica notebooks etc.) will remain the same, it’s just Pentel Co Ltd renaming to Astrum Corporation.
Side note, Pentel got the Astrum trademark back in 1988.
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