Case In Point: SME Deals On the Rise

Polaris purchased all of its shares from the company's founding family. Tokyo Star Bank which is majority owned by Advantage Partners, reportedly provided financing for the deal. Since the second half of last year, local lenders have begun to provide loans for local private equity players, particularly SME-focused funds.

One GP source said of this deal specifically, "We have seen deals in food business operators where they sell majority shareholder positions to private equity firms, or sell one of the arms of a company that has expanded rapidly in the past year through M&A." The person with knowledge of the Polaris deal believes that "this deal came from SFP's main bank. It seems Japan's SME market has shown recovery, but pure private equity deals are still few and far between." In fact, SFP's main bank was Tokyo Star Bank and the Development Bank of Japan, the former of which financed the deal.

In 1984, SFP opened a small grilled skewered restaurant called Izakaya Toriyoshi in Kichijoji, in downtown Tokyo - a popular place for families and young people to shop. Presently, the Toriyoshi brand has expanded to 35 branches in the Tokyo area. Along side its main brand, SFP now manages 11 brands, including Isomaru Suisan, which operates 21 outlets in Tokyo.

Polaris was founded in September 2004 by Japanese brokerage Mizuho Securities and DIAM Asset Management. The firm usually targets companies with corporate value between JPY10 billion ($120 million) and JPY50 billion($601 million).

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• Topics
• GPs
• North Asia