NSSK sells Japanese manga publisher
NSSK has sold Bunkasha Publishing, a Japanese media group focused on manga comics in both print and digital formats, to local internet content provider Beaglee.
Beaglee will pay JPY5.3 billion ($51 million) for a 100% equity interest in the company, according to a filing. It has secured JPY7 billion from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation to finance the transaction and other expenses.
NSSK bought the business in 2017 for an undisclosed sum. It was among the first deals from the firm’s second fund, which closed the same year with JPY60 billion in commitments. NSSK typically targets companies with enterprise values from $30-200 million with equity checks ranging from $10-50 million per deal.
Bunkasha sells manga books and magazines, as well as other leisure publications, in both paper and digital formats. A specialist in manga for women, its intellectual property includes “Stepmom and Daughter Blues,” which was turned into a popular TV drama series. The company was an early mover in the digital manga market and claims to be able to produce content to meet the rapidly changing readership trends in collaboration with a network of writers and creators.
NSSK put Bunkasha through its value creation program, helping implement global best practices in areas such as accounting, finance, compliance, and governance. It also supported the digitization of the company’s extensive library of paper manga content and made improvements to sales strategies and distribution channels. Digital sales now account for the bulk of revenue.
Beaglee is best known for producing e-books, games and other content through the “Manga Kingdom” distribution platform, which has more than four million members. Its app has achieved 1.2 billion downloads. Customers include the likes of NTT DoCoMo, KDDI Corporation, SoftBank Group, Google, and Apple. Beaglee also provides distribution services for third-party content creators.
NSSK said in a statement that Bunkasha can leverage Beaglee’s experience with “Manga Kingdom” in big data and digital comic distribution. The acquirer also boasts many relationships with writers and content creators, which could help boost Bunkasha’s output. Meanwhile, Bunkasha will bring content creation capabilities to Beaglee, which his primarily a distributor. Beaglee generated JPY5 billion and JPY169 million in net profit for the 12 months ended December 2019.
This is NSSK’s second exit so far this year, both of which are from Fund II. In February, the firm sold nursing care provider Vati to an investor group led by Neuberger Berman. NSSK generated an IRR of 40% and a multiple of 3x. It also re-invested in the business in expectation of further upside.
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