Japan's NSSK closes Fund II at $530m

NSSK II received support from institutional investors across North America, Europe, and Asia. The fund was launched in October 2015 and reached a second close of JPY30 billion in February this year.

"With the closing of NSSK II, we are very well positioned and appropriately resourced to continue to pursue the investment strategy successfully executed by our senior team over the past decade," Jun Tsusaka, founding member and managing partner at NSSK, said in a statement. "Our mission is to build a best-in-class investment firm to generate superior returns on our investments."

Investments will range from JPY1-5 billion in healthcare, consumer and leisure segments, including entertainment, travel, and hospitality. Recent activity in this space includes the acquisition of Bunkasha Publishing, a domestic media group focused on manga comics in both print and digital formats.

It extends a string of private equity middle market fundraisings in Japan, including a spate of six final closes, all at their hard caps, between April and May. The firms involved are Tokio Marine Capital, CLSA Capital Partners, Integral Group, J-Star, Advantage Partners, and Polaris Capital Group. CITIC Capital closed its latest Japan mid-market fund earlier in the year.

The momentum has coincided with a ramp-up in investment activity driven by emerging succession planning and corporate carve-out opportunities as well as improved sentiment for private equity. 

NSSK was founded in 2014 and closed its first fund the same year with a view to investing business succession and global expansion opportunities in Japan's lower middle market. The GP is currently raising a fund focused on Japan's central Chubu Hokuriku region with a targeted corpus of JPY10 billion.

Deployment strategies across all vehicles typically focus on demographic shifts related to Japan's aging population. Activity in this space includes investments in restaurant operator Sora Group, entertainment company Meotoiwa Paradise and amusement facilities developer US Mart.

Last year, NSSK acquired a majority stake in nursing home and assisted-living services provider SC Holdings in a deal that valued the company at $193 million.  

Eaton Partners served as placement agent for NSSK II.

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

• Topics
• North Asia
• Fundraising
• Buyout
• GPs
• NSSK
• Japan
• healthcare
• Consumer