Carlyle on Japan hiring spree after new US$3 billion buyout fund #JapanFinance

[TOKYO] Carlyle Group said it is on course to hire 10 investment professionals in Tokyo as it starts dealmaking for its latest 430 billion yen (S$3.8 billion) Japan buyout fund.

The Washington-based private equity firm has already made four junior to mid-level hires this year, and aims to add six more by December, according to Carlyle Japan co-head Takaomi Tomioka. That will bring its total number of investment professionals in Japan to 35.

Private equity has found a sweet spot in Japan in recent years, where borrowing costs remain low and companies from large corporations to smaller family-owned businesses have become receptive to selling off operations. Investors are also more keen to allocate money to Japan-focused funds.

But the boom has also made recruitment increasingly competitive in the market, Tomioka said. “Many new funds that have set up in Japan are frantically trying to hire,” he said. “The competition is very intense.”

Carlyle’s Japan expansion comes as US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies cloud the outlook for global businesses and investors. That has made evaluating new opportunities and exits via initial public offerings (IPOs) more complex, according to Tomioka.

Most of Carlyle’s Japan investments have been in medium-sized companies with a domestic focus, helping to shield it from some of the global trade turmoil.

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The firm, now in its 25th year of business in Japan, is still on track to invest its planned 100 billion yen in the country for 2025, Tomioka said.

Carlyle is seeking an IPO this year for portfolio company Orion Breweries, Tomioka said, pointing to the Okinawa-based beermaker’s locally focused consumer business as less likely to be impacted by the trade ructions. Carlyle took Orion private in 2019 with the investment arm of Nomura Holdings.

Tariff policies have also had little influence on the factors driving dealmaking for private equity in Japan, according to Tomioka.

Intensifying pressure to improve shareholder value is spurring local companies to go private or sell off non-core operations, and many smaller businesses face succession issues, he said.

“There is a significant deal flow,” he said. “However, we need to be cautious about whether the companies we evaluate for investment can actually execute their business plans as planned within the current global economic environment. That assessment is crucial.”

Most recently, Carlyle has acquired KFC Holdings Japan and is in the process of privatising software provider Kaonavi.

Carlyle’s latest Japan buyout fund, its fifth, finished fundraising last year and is about 70 per cent bigger than the previous one. Appetite was so strong that it sapped investor interest from a separate Carlyle pan-Asia buyout fund, Bloomberg reported last year.

Japan-focused funds have drawn investment during a period of stagnant fundraising. The share of private equity capital raised focused on the country rose to 15 per cent of the Asia-Pacific total last year from 7 per cent in 2019, according to a report from Bain & Co.

In the current global environment, Japanese companies that are focused on domestic businesses and not expanding globally are actually very appealing, Tomioka said.

“They are easier to invest in right now, and many are in our pipeline,” he said. BLOOMBERG