Unison Capital targets $581m for Japan fund

The new vehicle is smaller than its predecessor - the JPY140 billion Unison Capital Partners III raised in 2009 - which was scaled down by a quarter in early 2012 due to limited deal flow. The investment period for Fund III ends in August.

"After careful planning and reviewing our past experiences we think the fund is a good size for our style of sourcing and value-add," Tatsuo Kawasaki, co-founder of Unison, told AVCJ. "Japan has a very deep corporate market where good businesses change hands with relatively ease when compared with other Asian countries, but it still remains that the mega deals are harder to come by."

Kawasaki added that the fund will look to invest across numerous sectors, but with a particular focus on consumer-orientated businesses and upstream manufacturing. He sees these areas remaining competitive for Japan despite challenges posed by manufacturers elsewhere in the region.

"We think the market is showing great momentum," he said. "The improvement in the macro economy is doing a lot for overall sentiment and that translates into the private equity environment well."

Unison is also raising its debut Korea fund which it launched earlier this month. The fund is looking to raise KRW250 billion ($236 million).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

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