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09:20
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09:25
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09:45Japanese M&A update: Dealmaking in a post-pandemic world
Despite the global pandemic, Japan emerged as one of the leaders of M&A growth in Asia in 2020. Contributing to half of the region’s mega deals, dealmaking is set to continue gaining momentum in 2021. The past year has seen an uptick in domestic M&A activity, as corporates offload their non-core assets, consolidate their operations, and strengthen their business portfolios. While outbound M&A has not reached pre-2020 levels, the influx of domestic deals, dry powder, and pent-up demand surely means that corporates will once again turn to cross-border acquisitions. Against this backdrop, our panel of leading experts discuss the current trends and deal flow activity in and out of Japan, and how to best approach dealmaking in a post-pandemic world.
- What will be the future themes and trends driving Japanese M&A in the next 12 months?
- Domestic M&A: What has driven the trend for corporate carve-outs and divestitures in the past year, and will the streamlining of businesses continue?
- Outbound activity: Where are companies seeking targets, what will be the opportunities in the pipeline, and where will the challenges lie?
- What and where are the opportunities for Japanese corporates, and how do they plan on streamlining their businesses as the world emerges from the pandemic?
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10:45
Networking break
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11:15Corporate governance and shareholder activism: The evolving playbook
Although the rise of shareholder activism in Japan is not new, the pandemic has heightened the growth of activity in the region. On the regulatory front, recent corporate governance reforms mean that listed companies have to take into account independent board directors, management diversity, and environmental disclosure. At the same time, hostile bidding for domestic rivals and unwinding of parent-child listings continues to rise, as corporates become more attuned to shareholder value and activist pressure, signalling a wave of consolidation and selling in the market. Our panel of advisors discuss how best to manage shareholder expectations in the region and prepare for governmental reforms.
- What are the drivers of shareholder activism and corporate governance in the region?
- How will recent corporate governance reforms smooth the rise of shareholder activism, and how will they drive further consolidation?
- Given the activity in 2020, will we see more unwinding of parent-child structures in the region?
- What is driving the growth of hostile bids in Japan, and what can we learn from the Nitori-Shimachu takeover bid?
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12:00
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12:30
Networking Lunch
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13:30Pursuing innovations through technology M&A: The corporate perspective
Technology investments remain one of the most active sectors in Japanese M&A. Bolstered by the pandemic, which has accelerated the pace of digitalisation and e-commerce, Japanese corporates in sectors ranging from financial services to healthcare continue to search for technology acquisitions to assist business transformation and innovation. Against this promising backdrop, our panel of corporate executives discuss dealmaking in this sector, and how companies can future-proof their positions by pursuing domestic and outbound technology M&A.
- Where are top Japanese corporates looking to make strategic investments – domestic or outbound?
- Which sub-sectors are Japanese investors looking at, including healthtech and fintech?
- From a corporate perspective, what are the challenges of investing in foreign technology companies, and has the pandemic made things more difficult?
- Venture capital in Japan – are more companies choosing M&A as an exit route and, if so, why?
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14:30
Networking break
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15:00Going outbound: Japanese M&A investment in India
Japanese outbound M&A remains cautiously optimistic, as cash-rich strategics look to acquire businesses to bolster their operations. In particular, Japanese investments in India are poised for a boom, particularly in light of the pandemic, which has resulted in an increase in distressed assets in the region. However, investing comes with its own set of unique regulatory, geopolitical, and cultural challenges. Our panel of leading advisors share their views on how best to capture opportunities in India.
- What have been the key investment trends in 2021, for example, increased distressed assets and restructurings, and what is the outlook for the rest of the year?
- Which sectors are the most attractive to Japanese investors, such as India’s startup ecosystem?
- What are some of the challenges Japanese investors should expect to face when dealing with outbound M&A in India next year, such as valuation, corporate governance, and due diligence issues?
- Which best practices can Japanese investors borrow from recent acquisitions in India?
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16:00
Networking break
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16:15The rise of Japanese private equity
Despite the pandemic, Japan continues to be an increasingly attractive investment destination, with global private equity firms setting up shop in the region to win deals from domestic corporates that are revamping their businesses. With funds sitting on substantial amounts of dry powder and an increasingly large number of domestic companies looking to unload noncore operations to private equity sponsors, the outlook for the industry looks promising. However, there are concerns of overheating as well as a lack of available assets. Our panel of leading global and regional GPs share their views on the market.
- What have been some notable deals in the past 12 months, and what is the outlook for the rest of 2021? Where do large-cap and mid-cap firms see opportunities, and what is the fundraising outlook?
- Why are Japanese corporate management teams becoming more receptive to private equity as a buyer?
- How are Japanese strategics competing for assets during the auction process?
- Is the private equity market in Japan in danger of overheating?
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17:15
Networking cocktail
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18:30
Close of conference
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Mai Mizuta heads editorial content direction and strategy for Mergermarket and Dealreporter in Asia-Pacific. She oversees the management of seven bureaus across Asia, leading a team of dedicated journalists covering mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and event-driven and special situations. Mai, who is also concurrently Japan Bureau Chief, is responsible for private equity, news, and origination coverage in Japan.
Takayuki Morita became President and Chief Executive Officer (Representative Director) of NEC Corporation, a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that deliver benefits to businesses and people around the world, on April 1, 2021.
Previously, he was Chief Financial Officer, where he managed the financial strategy and operations of NEC’s 100,000 employees and total revenue of $25 billion. He was also responsible for Corporate Business Development functions, including the oversight of M&A and other investments that have reinforced NEC’s solutions for society, such as major advancements in the digital finance, digital government and drug development fields.
Having joined NEC in 1983, Morita’s experience in the global ICT industry now spans nearly four decades, six years of which he spent working in the U.S. market. In the past twenty years, he has played a central role in the development of partnerships and alliances with corporations across the globe - having completed more than forty deals of corporate mergers & acquisitions and investments. Among his most notable accomplishments in this regard have been the spin-offs of the semiconductor, flat panel and passive component businesses; the creation of joint ventures in the wireless, enterprise communications and PCs businesses; as well as numerous acquisitions in the consulting, ICT and managed services domains.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of Tokyo.
Masahiko (“Masa”) Ishida is a partner and head of the Japan corporate group in DLA Piper’s Tokyo office. Masa has a wide range of M&A and Private Equity experience in the Japanese market and abroad over his 18 year career. Masa has led many notable large acquisitions on behalf of his clients across various sectors including consumer goods, technology, finance and life sciences. He has also worked on behalf of governmental agencies and multinational trading companies in Japan.
Masa has been recognized as a leading M&A lawyer by many legal publications and ranking institutions such as Chambers Global and Legal 500. Masa was also recently recognized as one of the “Dealmakers in Asia” for 2020 by Asian Legal Business. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Masa practiced at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto and thereafter at a multinational boutique investment bank in New York.
Masa is a graduate of the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools of Law and Politics and of Columbia Law School where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Masa was also a visiting scholar at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) at Columbia Business School. Masa is admitted to practice law in Japan and NewYork State.
•Kensaku Bessho is a Managing Director and Head of the M&A Advisory Group in Japan since June 2012 at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley
•Since joining Morgan Stanley in 2002, he has advised various cross-border and domestic M&A transactions across industries
•He is a member of “Fair M&A Study Group” launched by The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) since 2019 and a member of “Business Restructuring Study Group” launched by METI since 2020
•Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he worked at a US based accounting firm and a Japanese commercial bank
•He holds a BA in Economics from Keio University as well as a US CPA (State of Illinois)
Name:
Rei Kyogoku
Current Position:
Executive Officer, Head of Investment Banking
Date of Birth:
August 30, 1969
Education:
Graduated from Faculty of Law, Keio University, March 1992
Professional Career
April 1992
Joined The Sakura Bank, Limited
September 1997
Sakura Finance International Limited (London)
June 2001
Deputy Manager, Corporate Clients Group Strategy Department, Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., Ltd.
September 2001
Deputy Manager, Principal Finance Department
July 2002
Vice President, Corporate Planning Department, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
December 2002
Vice President, Corporate Planning Department, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
July 2006
Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning Department
April 2007
Senior Vice President, Financial Institutions Group, Investment Banking Division, Lehman Brothers Japan Inc.
November 2008
Head of FIG, Investment Banking Division, Barclays Capital Japan Ltd.
June 2011
Director, FIG, Investment Banking Division, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.
July 2013
Managing Director, FIG / Public Corporations and Head of Governmental PT, Investment Banking Division
September 2014
Managing Director and Head of Global FIG and Public Corporations,
Investment Banking Division
March 2019
Executive Officer, Head of Investment Banking (Telecom Media
Technology and Heavy Industries, Industrial, Global FIG and Public Corporations)
September 2019
Executive Officer, Head of Investment Banking (Technologies & General Industries Group, Telecom Media & Information Technology, In
Naoya Seguchi has led M&A Advisory Team with Mitsubishi Corporation since he returned to Tokyo in June 2019. Prior to the current role, he served as CFO of Mitsubishi International Corporation (New York) from 2016 to 2019, and as Head of Finance at Mitsubishi Corp.-UBS Realty (Tokyo), a J-REIT management company, from 2013 to 2016. He started his career in 1993 with Sanwa Bank (currently MUFG Bank) and spent 12 years there. For the latest five years at Sanwa, he executed many M&A deals at Sanwa Securities (currently Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities). In 2005, he joined Mitsubishi Corporation where he supported its business groups to structure and execute full range of transactions, including acquisitions, strategic investments, joint ventures, divestitures, and related financing.
Nobuhiko Masuto is Representative Director & President of GCA Partners Corporation, a subsidiary of GCA Corporation, a global M&A advisory firm listed in TSE1 with 25 offices and 420+ professionals. Prior to joining GCA, he worked for Ripplewood Japan where he was responsible for origination and execution of Japanese buyout transactions and post-acquisition management. Prior to that, he worked as an investment banker for SMBC Tokyo and London, where he focused on cross-border M&A and structured finance transactions. He graduated from London Business School and Keio University. He is a visiting instructor on the MBA course of Kobe University and he often acts as a member of study committee set by the government.
Ed heads the Asia based editorial teams for Dealreporter, an M&A news service for merger arbitrage funds, and PaRR, a competition regulatory focused news and database product. He joined Acuris in London in 2007 before moving to Hong Kong in 2014.
Alicia Ogawa is the director of the Project on Japanese Corporate Governance and Stewardship at Columbia Business School’s Center on Japanese Economy and Business, and an assistant adjunct Professor at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Since 2008, she has been a consultant on Japan to one of the largest U.S.-based activist hedge funds. Until 2006, she was managing director at Lehman Brothers, where she was responsible for managing the firm’s global equity research product. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Professor Ogawa spent 15 years in Tokyo, where she was a top-rated bank analyst and director of research for Nikko Citigroup. Ogawa has been inducted into the Academy of Women Achievers. She is a non-executive director at Tokyo-based Misaki Capital funds as well as at the London-based Nippon Active Value Fund, and at Questhub, a Tokyo-based governance advisory firm. In addition, she is currently a member of the board of directors of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation; a member of the board of directors of Pure Earth; and a member of the President’s Circle of the AllStars Project, a development program for inner city young people. She is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network as well as the European Corporate Governance Institute. She graduated from Barnard College and earned a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.
Tsuyoshi Maruki established Strategic Capital, Inc. in September 2012 which is today the only more confrontational Japanese activist investment manager based in Tokyo. Mr. Maruki first began activist investing in 1999 where he was one of the Founding Partners of Japan’s first activist investment manager. MAC Asset Management grew to manage approximately USD 4 billion at peak in 2006. Prior to MAC Asset Management Mr. Maruki worked for Nomura Securities for 17 years during which time he led hundreds of equity and debt financing deals including the privatization of national companies. Also he acted as an advisor to the Depository Insurance Corporation, the Financial Revitalization Agency, and to the American corporate to tender offer its subsidiary in Japan. Mr. Maruki is a BA Law graduate from Tokyo University.
Seth H. Fischer is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Oasis Management, an international investment manager that invests globally across capital structures. Mr. Fischer founded Oasis in 2002 following a successful seven-year career at Highbridge Capital Management, where he managed the firm’s Asian investment portfolio. Prior to joining Highbridge, Mr. Fischer served in the Israel Defense Forces. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Yeshiva University in 1993. He is a Board Member of the Karen Leung Foundation and the Carmel School in Hong Kong, and Vice Chairman of the Ohel Leah Synagogue Management Committee in Hong Kong.
In Joon Hwang
Senior Managing Corporate Officer, CGIO (Chief Global Investment Officer), Z Holdings Corporation
August 1992: Joined Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
August 1998: Joined Credit Suisse (currently Credit Suisse AG)
January 2003: Joined Samsung Securities Co., Ltd.
June 2004: Joined Woori Finance Holdings Co., Ltd.
March 2007: Joined Woori Investment & Securities Co., Ltd.
August 2008: Joined NHN Corporation (currently NAVER Corporation) as CFO
November 2008: Director, CFO, NHN Corporation (currently NAVER Corporation)
December 2008: Director, LINE Corporation
April 2015: Director, CFO, LINE Corporation (currently A Holdings Corporation)
May 2017: Representative Director, Co-CEO, LINE Ventures Corporation
September 2018: Representative Director, CEO, LINE Financial Asia Corporation Limited (to present)
February 2021: Director, A Holdings Corporation (to present)
February 2021: Director, CFO, LINE Corporation (to present)
March 2021: Senior Managing Corporate Officer, CGIO (Chief Global Investment Officer), Z Holdings
Corporation (to present)
April 2021: Director, Chairman, Z Venture Capital Corporation (to present)
Masahiko (“Masa”) Ishida is a partner and head of the Japan corporate group in DLA Piper’s Tokyo office. Masa has a wide range of M&A and Private Equity experience in the Japanese market and abroad over his 18 year career. Masa has led many notable large acquisitions on behalf of his clients across various sectors including consumer goods, technology, finance and life sciences. He has also worked on behalf of governmental agencies and multinational trading companies in Japan.
Masa has been recognized as a leading M&A lawyer by many legal publications and ranking institutions such as Chambers Global and Legal 500. Masa was also recently recognized as one of the “Dealmakers in Asia” for 2020 by Asian Legal Business. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Masa practiced at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto and thereafter at a multinational boutique investment bank in New York.
Masa is a graduate of the University of Tokyo Graduate Schools of Law and Politics and of Columbia Law School where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Masa was also a visiting scholar at the Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) at Columbia Business School. Masa is admitted to practice law in Japan and NewYork State.
Takeshi is a head of M&A group, in a management consulting unit of NTT Data, where he leads consulting projects on M&A/PMI（post-merger integration）, strategic alliances, open innovation, and digital transformation.
He has more than 20 years of “hands-on” consulting, advisory and business side experience in the entire cycle of M&A, from strategy formulation, deal execution and PMI (post-merger integration).
Prior to joining NTT Data group, Takeshi worked at Panasonic Automotive, where he led the joint venture project with the global leading car manufacturer on automotive battery businesses. Further at Roland Berger, EY and Frontier Management, he supported various M&A/PMI projects, for Japanese companies, in Automotive, Technology, IT, Consumer Products & Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Financial Services and other industries.
He has an MBA from Temple University Fox School of Management, a bachelor’s degree from Keio University, a USCPA（Washington State） and an author of “Why M&A Deals Fail” (Diamond, 2021).
Gen Tsuchikawa heads up all venture investing activity for Sony globally through its Sony Innovation Fund.
He is also CEO and CIO of Innovation Growth Ventures, a joint venture between Daiwa Securities and Sony, which runs the later stage fund.
Earlier stage investments are made using Sony’s balance sheet.
He has spent 15 years at Sony, and prior to taking this position headed Corporate Development & M&A, Business Development, and Investor Relations at Sony Headquarters.
Before coming to Sony he spent 20 years in the finance industry in companies such as Merrill Lynch.
He holds a BA from Hitotsubashi Univ in Japan, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Yoichiro Shimizu is responsible for Datasite’s business development strategies and growth in Japan, as well as management of the local team.
He has more than 20 years’ experience in IT solution sales with major IT consulting firms and system integrators (SI). Shimizu began his career as a sales and marketing executive in New York to develop new opportunities for finance, high tech, automotive, manufacturing, and other verticals where he built strong and long-term relationships with channel accounts, SI partners, and C-level executives.
With extensive knowledge of country risk management and macroeconomics, Shimizu has worked with German, UK and US companies based in Japan. He also managed a startup company as CEO for more than 9 years and lead it to profitability.
About Datasite
Datasite, formerly known as Merrill Corporation, is a leading SaaS provider for the M&A industry, empowering dealmakers around the world with the tools they need to succeed across the entire deal lifecycle. For more information, visit www.datasite.com
Charandeep Kaur is a senior member and Partner of the corporate practice group at Trilegal. Charandeep heads the National Capital Region offices at the Firm and serves as a member on the Board of Trilegal. She specialises in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity investments, entry strategies and foreign direct investment. She has experience in various cross border transactions across sectors including energy, IT & ITES, automotives, education, healthcare, hospitality, foods and logistics. She is a trusted legal advisor to leading Fortune 500 companies.
Charandeepis engaged in diverse corporate practice advising clients on labour issues and enforcement issues, regulatory policy and requirements, prevailing government policies and regulations, statutory registrations, exchange control issues, investment structuring and corporate compliance.
She also serves as a Director on the boards of Mytrah Energy (India) Private Limited and Uniqlo India.
Charandeep has been recognised as one of India’s 100 leading women leaders by the Indian National Bar Association in support with United Nations.
Charandeep is the Co-Chair of the International Bar Association (IBA) Women’s Interest Group, Incoming Co-Chair of the Inter Pacific Bar Association (IPBA)Cross-Border Investment Committee and Incoming member of the SPPI Advisory Council of IBA.
Seiji has been in India for the last 26 years and has over 22 years of experience in M&A at BMR Advisors and EY.
As a trained regulatory and financial expert in India, Seiji has been actively involved in the client initiative between India and Japan across the range of industries including automobiles, trade, heavy machinery, construction, consumer electronics, logistics and services.
He has been managing several projects for both Japanese and Indian companies engaged in a diverse range of business –advising on buy / sell transactions, strategies, corporate restructuring, forming JVs, etc.
Ota is a board member, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Operating Officer at Shibaura Machine. He joined the company in June 2020 and currently leads the company’s Corporate Strategic Planning, Finance and Public Relations & Investor Relations. Prior to joining Shibaura Machine, he has had over 27-year experience in M&A origination and execution at various banks, such as Sakura Bank (currently Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp), Daiwa Securities SMBC and GCA, and has mainly covered the industrial sector. Ota has also served as CFO at GCA from February 2015 to March 2017 and played key role in having GCA merge with a European investment bank.
Ota earned bachelor of economics at Hitotsubashi University and holds an MBA at The University of Texas at Austin.
- Gaurav is Managing Director of XIB Inc. and is currently advising a number of Japanese clients on cross border M&A and investments with a special focus on India.
- 18 years of work experience covering M&A (Buy-side & Sell-side), M&A financing, PMI and operational roles (C-suite) level
- Before joining XIB Capital Partners in January 2017, Gaurav was a Director of M&A at US$4 billion automotive components group in India and was in charge of domestic and cross-border M&A activities since 2014, including a series of successful acquisitions in India, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Japan. His deal list includes acquisition of Asahi Tec’s forging and casting business which is the one of the biggest Japanese inbound transaction undertaken by an Indian player in the automotive parts sector till date
- Most recently, he served as CFO responsible for Post Merger Integration of Asahi Tec’s forging and casting assets in Japan, Thailand and China having consolidated revenues of c. USD 450 mn.
- Gaurav began his career at Grant Thornton India and spent 10 years focusing on M&A advisory and Fund raising. During this stint, Gaurav was involved in a number of M&A / PE deals involving strategic and financial investors
- Based out of Tokyo for the past 7+ years, Gaurav has developed a good understanding of cultural / softer aspects of M&A while dealing with Japanese stakeholders
- He holds an MBA from the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) and B.A. in Commerce from Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi in India
Ashwyn Misra is a part of the corporate practice group. He primarily focusses on entry strategies, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, corporate restructuring, private equity and fund formations.
Ashwyn has a wide experience in transactions in various sectors in India and advises clients on all aspects, including structuring advice from an Indian legal and regulatory perspective impacting entry and exit strategies, due diligence, documentation and negotiations, partnerships, inbound and outbound investments, both strategic cross-border as well as financial, mergers and joint ventures.
Ashwyn has advised multinational corporates like Sumitomo Metal Industries, Macquarie Group, Assa Abloy Group, Daido Steel, M3 Inc., Groupe PSA, Bando Chemical Industries, Tadano, Publicis Groupe, Engie, Goldman Sachs., JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Credit Suisse, Bank of America, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, Citibank, Stripe Inc., Asahi Tec Corporation, Vesuvius, Olympus Capital Asia Credit, Tree Line Investment Management and Hitachi.
Someof the domestic companies he has advised include Crompton Greaves, Reliance Energy, Reliance Capital, Godrej Industries, Future Group, JSW Steel, Shriram Group (financial services companies and non-financial services companies),Exide Industries, Exide Life Insurance Company, Prism Johnson (formerly Prism Cement), Hathway Investments, National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, Rare Enterprises, Faering Capital, Emaar, Paysense, Alchemy Capital Management, Phillip Capital, Artha Property (part of Bennett & Coleman Group) and Sun Area Property Partners.
Ashwyn is an alumnus of Government Law College, Mumbai. He is a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, India.
Kazushige Kobayashi
Managing Director, MCP Asset Management
Kazushige has approx. 30 years’ experience in private equity (PE) business. Kazushige is handling a couple of PE related business in parallel, including running a fund of funds program of Tokyo Metropolitan Government at MCP Asset Management and advisory roles as an independent consultant for global GPs.
Until 2020, he was Managing Director – Head of Primary Investments at Capital Dynamics (CD), a global private asset management company. He oversaw CD’s PE investments in Asia and also served as a member of Global PE Investment Committee and Executive Committee.
Prior to joining CD in 2010, he was President and CEO of Alternative Investment Capital (AIC), a private equity advisory firm in Tokyo. He joined AIC when it was established in 2002 and has grown AIC as globally recognized PE investor. Before AIC, he worked for Mitsubishi Corporation and handled various types of PE related business in Tokyo and London.
In addition, he is a board member of Social Investment Partners, the manager of Japan Venture Philanthropy Fund (JVPF), the first venture philanthropy fund in Japan.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hitotsubashi University.
Experience Prior to joining Bain Capital, Yuji was COO and head of investment Division at Japan Industrial Solutions where he led many investments and post-acquisition processes in various industries in Japan. Previously, he was a senior partner at Advantage Partners where he led management and leveraged buyout deals, and he spent several years as a partner at A.T. Kearney and a manager at McKinsey on developing growth strategies, operational improvement, and M&A/alliance execution in industrial goods, consumer goods, retail and financial industries. Education Mr. Takei received an MBA from Harvard Business School. He received a BA in Law from University in Tokyo.
Yoichi Tamagawa joins PAG as co-head of Japan private equity. Before joining PAG, he was managing director and a member of the investment committee at Marunouchi Capital, where he has worked since 2012 on secondment from Mitsubishi Corporation. Over the course of his career at Mitsubishi, Mr. Tamagawa served in several senior roles including as general manager for investment and business development at Mitsubishi International Corporation and deputy general manager of the merchant banking department at Mitsubishi Corporation. He began his career in Mitsubishi’s crude oil import business before being seconded to Ripplewood Holdings as one of the firm’s original seven employees. Mr. Tamagawa holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Waseda University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Kita joined Advantage Partners in 2003 and leads all activities for the Japan Buyout team. Mr. Kita has also directly led many investments including Actus, MEI/Nippon Conlux, CommunityOne, Interac and Katitas. He currently serves as a Director on several investments including Wavedash, Ionic, United Precision Technologies, MP Kitchen, Net Protections, Material Group, Yaruki Switch Group, Cosmolife and Dental Holding.
Prior to joining Advantage Partners, Mr. Kita was at Bain & Company Japan and focused on projects in the auto, finance, telecommunications, food products, trading houses, and healthcare sectors. Mr. Kita holds an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley.
Participated in the founding of J-STAR in February 2006. Executed 12 investments mainly in the IT and Business Service sectors, and completed 7 exits including the listing of 2 companies.
Based on the investment experience of both buyouts and venture capital, Tatsuya appropriately controls the risk and identifies solutions to develop the area of activity of private equity funds.
Before the founding of J-STAR, Tatsuya was engaged in buyout investment related to pharmaceuticals such as SHOWA YAKUHIN KAKO and Medical Tribune, and venture capital investment in 11 IT and Business Service sector at JAFCO (currently JAFCO Group).
Yumoto graduated from the Faculty of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University.
Koji is President and Managing Partner at T Capital Partners (TCap) renamed from Tokio Marine Capital as a result of management buy-out from Tokio Marine group in October 2019. Since inception of its first fund in 1998, TCap has focused upon Japan’s mid-cap private equity, both in corporate curve-out and family business investment, through 6 funds with total commitments in excess of USD 2.1 billion. Koji, after joined the firm in 1998, has devoted himself to found and develop buyout team while building up successful track records during the past 22 years. He has a background in banking legal expertise, M&A advisory and corporate finance at The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan (now Shinsei Bank).
He earned B.A. degree in law from Kyushu University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.