Japan's Advantage reaches final close on $200m bridge fund

The bridge fund will have a two-year investment period, which means the firm is likely to start marketing its next vehicle in 12-18 months time, according to a person familiar with the situation. The bridge fund was oversubscribed, attracting a mixture of domestic and overseas investors. 

The firm's previous vehicle, Advantage Partners IV, launched in 2006 and reached a final close of JPY215 billion in 2007.

The fund recorded a significant loss on Tokyo Star Bank. Advantage led a JPY252 billion (then $2.2 billion) acquisition in 2007 but struggled with the asset after the global financial crisis. Creditors assumed control of the bank in 2011.

Other Advantage portfolio companies have fared better. The firm has made four exits so far this year: Komeda Coffee was sold to MBK Partners for $482 million; MIT Corporate Advisory bought apparel company Credge; software developer 1st Holdings was sold to Orix Principal Investment for $272 million; and Tokyu Community picked up condominium management company United Communities.

Speaking to AVCJ earlier this year, Richard Folsom, Advantage's CEO and co-founder, was bullish about the exit environment.

"I think this is the closest thing we've had to the period following the Asian financial crisis in terms of non-Japanese investors looking inwards to Japan," he said. "This time it is not only traditional US and European investors but also Chinese, Southeast Asian, Korean, Taiwanese investors looking to partner with or acquire Japanese companies."

He was also confident of continued buyout opportunities through corporate divestments and succession planning. Late last year Advantage completed a carve-out of Sanyo Electric's digital camera unit.

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