CLSA acquires Japan IT services provider
CLSA Capital Partners (CLSA CP) has acquired a majority stake in Japanese IT services provider Earth Technology for an undisclosed sum.
CLSA CP invested via its Sunrise Capital III, which closed in 2017 at $400 million. It targets Japanese companies with enterprise valuations of JPY5-15 billion ($47-141 million) and strong potential for domestic expansion. The GP does not plan to make any material changes to the management or operations of Earth.
Earth distinguishes itself as a bilingual player in a category where English-proficient engineers are scarce despite increasing demand for language skills due to accelerated globalization. It has one of the largest bilingual teams of its kind in Japan with about 300 English-speaking engineers as of December 2019, according to a release. However, its website is Japanese-only.
The company claims to have maintained stable growth since inception in 2013, with recent traction including a consulting partnership with Salesforce for the provision of cloud-related services. This followed closely on a distribution and user support partnership with Chatwork, a business chat platform operator that received about $15 million in venture capital backing before listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last year.
Operations are currently based in Tokyo, Osaka, and Sapporo, but there are plans to expand into Nagoya and Fukuoka within the year. CLSA CP said it would support further growth through the development of sales capabilities and streamlining of the organizational framework, as well as enhancement of the recruiting and branding strategies.
CLSA CP is a pan-Asian, multi-strategy asset manager based in Hong Kong. The Sunrise funds represent its Japan private equity strategy. Other recent investments by Sunrise III include toymaker Bloom, parking lot business Ecolo, and real estate services provider House Partner. Sunrise II achieved an exit last year from Worldtool, an automotive equipment retailer.
More on North Asia
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.