Carlyle to acquire Japan's Sunsho Pharmaceutical

Set up in 1993 and headquartered in Shizuoka, Sunsho claims to be one of the largest H&N contract manufacturers in Japan. The business has five factories in Shizuoka prefecture producing soft capsules and seamless capsules for H&N and pharmaceutical use. It employs around 639 people. 

Following the completion of the transaction, Takashi Kondo, the founder, chairman and CEO of Sunsho, will retire. Kazuhiro Shijo, president of Sunsho, will continue to lead the company with the current management team.

"Sunsho Pharmaceutical has established a solid position as a contract manufacturer in the steadily growing H&N market in Japan," said Takaomi Tomioka, managing director at Carlyle, in a statement. "With its competitive edge in R&D and manufacturing capabilities, the company is poised for continued growth."

This will be the second investment via Carlyle Japan Partners III, which launched in May last year with a target of around $1 billion. The first deal came last month when Carlyle acquired a 51% stake in Oyatsu Company, the Japanese manufacturer of Baby-Star ramen snacks in deal worth more than JPY20 billion yen ($194 million).

Sunsho will not be the PE firm's first investment in the Japanese H&N manufacturing space. In January last year, the GP exited its holding in Qualicaps, a supplier of pharma-grade capsules, to Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings for JPY55.8billion ($639 million). Formerly known as Shionogi Qualicaps, the company was acquired by Carlyle from Shionogi & Co. in October 2005 for an undisclosed sum.

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• Topics
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• Buyout
• Japan
• healthcare
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• The Carlyle Group