Japan's Net Marketing is sold four months after take-private

Macbee Planet said in a filing that it would take a 100% interest in the company for JPY 5.37bn (USD 41m) and assume control of the core assets, matchmaking apps With and Omiai, which are aimed at users in their 20s and 30s. These will be placed under a new entity called Enito Group.

Bain won board approval for a take-private of Net Marketing at a valuation of approximately JPY 13.6bn in August 2022. The private equity firm launched a tender offer and accumulated a 78.44% stake, acquiring 11.8m shares for JPY 10.6bn. Net Marketing was subsequently delisted

Tybourne Capital Management was also identified as a participant in the take-private, while Macbee Planet was one of the sellers. It agreed to sell 1.77m shares – the fourth-largest single position in the company – through the tender.

Founded in 2004, Net Marketing spent the first few years of its life as an online advertising agency and consulting business. Omiai launched in 2012 and With followed three years later. The company now has more than 8m registered users across all its platforms. It generates revenue through advertising – much of it text message-based – and marketing services.

The rationale for the take-private was that it would help address challenges around rising domestic competition and talent retention. Net Marketing’s founders concluded that a full or partial sale to a third party – that could expand the service range and diversify the customer base – was the best way to secure the company’s future.

Macbee Planet, which generated JPY 14.4bn in revenue and JPY 1.23bn in net profit for the 12 months ended April 2022, said the purchase of Net Marketing would contribute to its core lifetime value (LTV) marketing strategy. It noted that growth is contingent on acquiring more data, improving analytics capabilities, and strengthening technology in complementary areas.

Net Marketing’s revenue for the 12 months ended June 2021 was JPY 14bn, down from JPY 14.4bn the previous year. Over the same period, net income fell from JPY 509m to JPY 336m. Net income held relatively steady at JPY 326m for the year ended June 2022, but revenue slumped to JPY 5.2bn. This was blamed on the adoption of new accounting standards.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Trade sale
• Japan
• Bain Capital Asia
• TMT
• Tybourne Capital Management