Advent Raises Japan Fund
Advent secured $550 million from limited partners for new Japanese investment partnership.
September 10, 2008
Advent International, a Boston private equity firm, said Wednesday that it has closed on ¥60 billion ($550 million) for its first Japan-focused private equity fund.
While investors in the Advent Japan Private Equity Fund were not identified by name, limited partners of the fund included institutions from Asia, Europe, Japan and North America. Its stable of past limited partners includes a host of venerable institutions such as AlpInvest Partners, California State Teachers Retirement System, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Canadian Pension Plan.
John Singer, a managing partner of Advent International, said the time is right to start investing in Japan: “Not only has the private equity industry in Japan shifted from its initial focus on distressed situations and balance sheet restructuring to real, operationally-led value creation, but Japanese businesses have embraced the need for enhanced global competitiveness in order to achieve long-term profit growth.” (A white paper on the rebirth of M&A in the Japanese market is available here.)
The new fund, the fourth in a series of buyout funds raised by Advent since the summer of 2007, will invest in companies valued at $45 million to $450 million. Supported by a nine-person team based in Tokyo, it will target businesses that operate in the healthcare, life sciences, industrial, retail, consumer and support services areas. The Tokyo office opened in 2001.
Advent, a firm with offices spanning 15 countries across four continents, is known for making growth-oriented private equity investments in middle-market companies in a diverse range of industries like business and financial services, consumer, healthcare, industrial, media, technology and telecommunications. It has amassed $14 billion in little more than a year from a string of fund closings. In the month of April alone, the private equity firm raised $10.4 billion (€6.6 billion) for its sixth global buyout vehicle and secured €1 billion for its fourth Central and Eastern Europe-focused investment partnership. It also closed on $1.3 billion for its fourth Latin America investment fund in 2007.
The Massachusetts investment house, founded by former TA Associates veteran and Advent chairman Peter Brooke in 1984, has generated strong returns over the last decade. Its fourth and fifth limited partnerships produced 54% and 136% returns, respectively. On Monday, the firm appointed Jenny Ming, former president of Gap's Old Navy subsidiary, as an operating partner in its apparel retail investment group.
Advent announced its two most recent Latin American acquisitions on Tuesday: Brazil’s Quero-Quero, which operates retail stores in the Southern Brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul state, and Dominican Republic-based airport operator Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI SA.
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