Carlyle acquires Japanese noodle snack maker

Financial details were not disclosed but sources put the value of the deal at more than JPY20 billion yen ($194 million) for a 51% stake.

Set up in 1948, the company is based in Tsu in western Japan's Mie prefecture and has a workforce of around 370. Its flagship product, Baby-Star ramen snacks, has been sold domestically since 1959. Made from the by-product of noodle manufacturing, the snack is also available in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam.

According to a release, Oyatsu currently has three facilities in Mie and is currently planning to establish its first overseas manufacturing base in Asia. The company - which will continue to be headed by President Yoshiaki Matsuda - generated sales of JPY18.2 billion for the year ended July 2013.

This is the first deal from Carlyle Japan Partners III, a vehicle launched in May last year with a target of around $1 billion. 

Carlyle's last significant buyout in the country was in 2012, when it bought cleaning services provider Diversey for about JPY30 billion. Its largest acquisition in Japan to date is bearing and machine tool maker Tsubaki Nakashima, bought from Nomura Holdings for around JPY66 billion in 2011.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Buyouts
• Japan
• The Carlyle Group
• Consumer
• buyout