Longreach nears $400m final close on second fund

The Japan-focused GP has spent more than two years on the fundraising trail. It held a first close of $135 million in March 2011, and had to scale back its initial overall target of $750 million. Many of the North American financial institutions that backed the GP's debut vehicle have since retreated from the asset class, while LPs in general remain wary about making large allocations to Japan funds.

However, a number of Asia-based investors have committed to the fund while re-ups have been secured from US endowments and foundations, according to sources in the LP community. New entrants include Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), Japan's Pension Fund Association and Pavilion Capital, the North Asia arm of Temasek Holdings.

Given KIC and Temasek's well-known focus on co-investment with portfolio GPs, Longreach's investment strategy and target ticket size are unlikely to change, despite the smaller fund corpus. In 2010 Longreach bought the electronics giant Sanyo's logistics business, and corporate carve outs are expected to remain a key theme in the Japan buyout market.

While there has been an uptick in activity among the global buyout players in recent months, funds focusing on Japan's mid-cap buyout space have struggled. A number of foreign GPs have left the market while there is uncertainty about the future fundraising prospects of domestic operators such as Advantage Partners and Unison Capital.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• North Asia
• Buyout
• Fundraising
• Japan
• buyout