CLSA buys Japan beauty salon chain

CLSA CP took a majority stake in Agu earlier this year by investing at least JPY10 billion ($90 million) from its Sunrise Capital III fund. Sunrise III, which closed last year at a hard cap of $400 million, is expected to complete the Puzzle acquisition in October.

Puzzle is an existing franchisee under Agu and had footprint of about 70 salons as of the end of July, primarily in the northern Tohoku region. Agu currently has about 300 salons across Japan and plans to grow the network to 1,000 in the next few years. According to a statement, Agu has opened at least 10 salons every year since 2009.

CLSA CP’s Sunrise funds target leveraged buyouts of companies with enterprise valuations of JPY5-15 billion across sectors including consumer products, healthcare, retail, logistics, and manufacturing. Sunrise funds have raised about $1 billion to date and completed investments in 15 companies since 2006.

Other recent activity by CLSA CP in Japan’s beauty space includes an investment of undisclosed size in El Dorado, a company that manufactures fashion-oriented contact lenses under a number of brands. The lenses are popular with young women as they can change the wearer’s natural eye color and shape, giving them a wide-eyed, doll-like look.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Consumer
• Buyouts
• Japan
• CLSA Capital Partners
• M&A