Advantage recruits partner, co-head for Asia ex-Japan
Japan’s Advantage Partners has hired Rahul Bhargava, previously of ADV Partners, as a partner and co-head of Asia ex-Japan. It coincides with the acquisition of a Japanese jewellery industry supplier.
Bhargava will be based in Singapore and work closely with Emmett Thomas, Advantage’s current Hong Kong-based co-head of Asia ex-Japan. He will formally join the team on December 1.
Bhargava has more than 20 years of investment experience in Southeast Asia and India, where he has completed 13 transactions representing capital commitments of more than USD 880m.
He joined ADV in 2020 as a managing director and head of Southeast Asia, leaving in August this year. Before that, he was a Singapore-based director at KKR, responsible for credit and special situations investments in Southeast Asia. KKR had recruited him from Leafgreen Capital Partners, in 2014.
Previous experience includes co-founding Henderson Global Investors’ Asian private equity business.
Advantage’s Asia ex-Japan team invests via its debut Asia fund, which closed on USD 380m in 2018 to pursue middle-market private equity buyout opportunities in Southeast Asia and Greater China with Japan-related themes. The strategy has executed 13 investments across the region, including in mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
The recruitment coincides with the acquisition of 100% of Net Japan, a precious metals recycling company active in trading diamonds, coins, and luxury watches, for an undisclosed sum. The deal has been described as a carve-out from Orix Corporation. Orix divested via a private equity unit, according to AVCJ Research.
Net Japan aims to achieve economies of scale in expansive recycling programs for gold, platinum, palladium, silver, and scrap jewellery metal. The company claims its jewellery warehouse always carries more than 20,000 stock items. Expansion across the region is high on the agenda, including at footholds in Bangkok, Shanghai, and Singapore.
Advantage invested via its sixth Japan buyout fund, which raised JPY 85bn (USD 570m) in 2020, with Shinichiro Kita, a senior partner, and Takashi Nishimura, a principal, leading the transaction. Prior to joining Advantage in 2007, Nishimura was part of the private equity team at Orix.
Orix acquired Net Japan from Baring Private Equity Asia and an unspecified seller in 2014 for about JPY 21bn. The private equity firm held an 87.4% stake in the business, having invested an undisclosed sum in 2012. Net Japan was founded in 1995.
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