Apollo appoints ex-Bain executive to head up Japan

The firm said Okamoto would be involved in originating and executing deals and identifying cross-platform opportunities. He will report to Steve Martinez, senior partner and head of Asia Pacific.

Okamoto spent 11 years at Bain, most recently as a managing director in the regional private equity team. He was also a leader of the firm’s capital markets operation in Asia. Before joining Bain, Okamoto worked for Ripplewood Holdings, executing investments across Japan’s automotive, consumer and technology sectors.

“Tetsuji’s addition signals Apollo’s meaningful long-term commitment to expanding its presence in the Japanese market, which we view as a key area of investment focus as we seek to build value and drive growth for Japanese corporations and our investors and limited partners,” Martinez said.

Numerous global and pan-regional private equity firms have increased their Japan presence in recent years with a view to participating in a widely anticipated rise in corporate carve-out transactions. However, deal flow remains patchy. Investors have committed $10.9 billion so far this year, more than double the 2018 total but less than half the record $25 billion from 2017. Since 2016, there have been eight deals of $1 billion or more, compared to four in the four years before that.

Apollo had approximately $323 billion in assets under management as of September. Credit accounted for $201 billion of the total, with $77 billion in private equity. The firm closed its most recent private equity fund at $24.7 billion. Its Asia presence includes offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo.

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• Topics
• North Asia
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