L Catterton, Mitsui invest in Japanese eyewear retailer

The target company manufactures and sells its own line of prescription glasses, with 115 stores in Japan and 142 across 10 other Asian markets including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Philippines. The new capital will go towards expansion, with Owndays planning to open more than 500 stores across the region over the next five years.

"The Owndays success story has been one of innovation, quality service and boldly exceeding consumer expectations. The company is poised to take advantage of the robust macro trends that are driving the market for private brand eyewear," said Ravi Thakran, chairman and managing partner of L Catterton Asia. "With Japanese quality, purity and efficiency increasingly appreciated and desired around the world, we see tremendous market opportunities for Owndays."

L Catterton manages over $15 billion of equity capital across six fund strategies globally. The Asia franchise was launched in 2009 as L Capital Asia, part of the private equity arm of luxury goods giant LVMH. L Capital merged with US-based Catterton in 2016.

L Catterton Asia aims to back consumer lifestyle businesses that can benefit from growing discretionary consumption in Asian markets, leveraging its relationship with LVMH to drive value creation in its portfolio companies. Its investments include Gentle Monster, a South Korean producer of sunglasses and eyewear that also operates in 19 overseas markets including China and the US.

MCPI was launched in 2003 in order to back promising brands that can benefit from Mitsui's expertise and strategic networks and subsequently create financial returns for the parent. Its investments include business software developer Yaskawa Information Systems and water heater manufacturer Nihon Itomic.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Healthcare
• Expansion
• Japan
• L Catterton
• Growth capital