Sanrio has become the fourth largest shareholder of Japan’s IG Port—which owns manga publisher Mag Garden and anime studios Production I.G (Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle) and Wit Studio (Attack on Titan).

IG Port has issued 929,100 new shares, each valued at US$12 (JPY¥1750), and the sale to Sanrio is set to close on July 3 at a total value of roughly US$11.19 million (JPY¥1.6 billion).

This is all part of a new capital and business alliance between the two companies, intended to open up more collaborations. It comes in the wake of a recent partnership in which Wit Studio’s Toruku division produced the Netflix stop-motion toon My Melody & Kuromi (pictured) for Sanrio, slated to launch on July 24. (Wit is also producing a buzzy One Piece anime remake called The One Piece).

In a notice, IG Port has outlined the potential for its subsidiaries to work on more content based on Sanrio’s popular character-based brands, as well as team-ups on new IPs tailored for international markets including North America. The notice reads: “In creating, acquiring and nurturing high-quality IPs, we aim to utilize our unique video production capabilities, Sanrio’s design capabilities, our sales channels in Japan and Asia, and Sanrio’s global business foundation.” 

As for how that US$11.19-million capital infusion will be spent over the next five years, US$6.8-million (JPY¥1 billion) will go towards joint projects with Sanrio and recruiting and training new creators and funding their work. The remaining funds will be funneled into production system and infrastructure upgrades. IG Port noted that it is already in talks with multiple Sanrio departments, from product licensing and digital/games, to the anime production teams.

IG Port’s top three shareholders will be founder and president Mitsuhisa Ishikawa (18.9%), followed by Dentsu Group and Nippon TV (9.85% each). Once the transaction closes, Sanrio will have a 4.98% stake in the company, on par with NTT Docomo.