Partners Group, Mizuho target Japanese pension funds

Under the agreement, MFG and its pension trust and asset management subsidiary Mizuho Trust & Banking Corp. will have select distribution rights for Partners Group's integrated global private equity and infrastructure funds. They will also look at other ways to collaborate on product development in order to meet the needs of Japanese institutional investors.

This is the first time Mizuho Trust will offer global private markets investment products to its Japanese pension clients.

"We are very excited to partner with Mizuho Financial Group, one of Japan's most respected and best-known financial institutions, in order to meet the growing demand for private equity and infrastructure investment opportunities seen from the country's pension funds," said Steffen Meister, partner and chairman of Partners Group's business development committee, in a statement.

The tie-up comes a few months after a government-appointed advisory panel recommended that Japan's public pension funds - which collectively manage more than JPY200 trillion ($2 trillion) in assets - should diversify into alternative assets, including private equity, and have greater independence to do so.

Other private markets groups with dedicated Japan distribution agreements include AMP Capital. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. bought a minority stake in the Australian player in 2011 and now serves as its local partner. AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund II, which reached a first close last year, is the first direct infrastructure fund Mitsubishi UFJ has marketed to its clients.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• LPs
• Fundraising
• Japan
• Partners Group
• Fundraising
• LPs