J-STAR, a Japanese mid-market private equity firm, announced that it has invested in Toy Factory, a manufacturer and distributor of Japan-made camper vans.
The PE firm did not provide financial details of its investment but said the transaction was carried out through J-STAR No.4-A LP.
Established in 1995, Toy Factory mainly builds and sells recreational vehicles (RVs) in Japan, including camper vans. It also manufactures and sells special vehicles and vehicles for the disabled as well as automobile interiors and exteriors.
J-STAR said Toy Factory, which leads the camper van market in Japan, is building a new factory in Japan to maximise its building capacity. It also plans to open its third specialty store and sell its RVs overseas.
“We will support the company’s growth so that more and more people can enjoy riding the company’s RVs,” J-STAR said.
J-STAR was founded in 2006 by Gregory Rokuro Hara, who had earlier been with Tokyo-based JAFCO, Japan’s largest private equity investment firm.
It invests in Japanese small- and medium-sized companies. Particularly, it looks at transactions in succession, management buyouts, carve-outs and shareholder exits.
In April, the Japanese PE firm closed its fifth fund and related vehicles at 75 billion yen (about $574 million) in April, exceeding a target of 65 billion yen.
The firm raised its $371-million fourth fund in 2019. The third vehicle was closed with a $200-million corpus in 2016, while the second fund and first fund had raised $205 million and $113 million, respectively.
In terms of exits, J-STAR has recently sold nursing care services provider Platia Co Ltd to healthcare group NICHIIGAKKAN. Its other divestments include film coating company Nakai Industrial, TV shopping business Itty Inc, and energy savings solutions provider ESCO.
Last month, the PE firm invested in Score Japan Group, the country’s largest independent courier forwarder. Score Japan Group has 18 domestic and 17 offshore operators Centres in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, providing low-cost and express door-to-door delivery.