A couple of Japanese middle-market private equity firms made major announcements ahead of the new year. While D Capital closed its debut fund at $238 million, Nippon Sangyo Suishin Kiko (NSSK) made an exit from nursing care provider Welfare Suzuran.
Japan’s D Capital closes first fund at $238m
Japan-based private equity firm D Capital has racked up 31.5 billion yen ($238 million) for its maiden fund, according to a company announcement. The fundraising was led by insurance companies and banks.
Launched in October 2021, the fund originally aimed to raise a corpus of 30 billion yen ($229 million) to invest in Japanese SMEs and provide technology and networking opportunities to its portfolio companies.
Its investee companies include home decor firm Francfranc Co and logistics companies FC Standard Logics Co and Chugai Shipping Warehouse.
Just last month, D Capital acquired a majority stake in Japanese snack producer Oyatsu from Wall Street giant Carlye.
D capital, which specialises in digital transformation, was spun out from Japan’s investment company Unison Capital in March 2021.
Rico Leasing buys Welfare Suzuran
Nippon Sangyo Suishin Kiko (NSSK), a Japanese mid-market buyout firm, has offloaded all its shares in nurse care company Welfare Suzuran Co to local financial services provider Rico Leasing.
The exit was made through its second investment vehicle NSSK II (INTL) Investment LP, which closed at 60 billion yen ($543 million) in 2017, at an undisclosed sum, according to a company release.
The 2015-vintage fund had announced its investment in Welfare Suzuran in December 2019 without providing financial particulars.
Founded in 2011, Welfare Suzuran currently operates eight nursing homes, three group homes for persons with disabilities, and a group home for dementia patients.
Similar to its predecessor and subsequent funds NSSK I (INTL) Investment LP and NSSK III (INTL) Investment LP, respectively, the sector-agnostic fund mainly bets on Japan-based small to medium-sized companies.
NSSK II’s investments include fruit and vegetable wholesaler Oriental Foods and I.I.T. Corporation, a logistics spinoff of Oriental Foods, which was announced in July of 2021. In May that year, the fund also acquired a 100% share in electric power transmission components producers Fujikura Components and Fujikura Line Tech Taiwan.