Bain gets $1.1b recapitalization loan for Japan's Bellsystem24

The loan recapitalization will enable Bain to return capital back to its LPs while raising its $2 billion-plus Asian fund. That vehicle is the private equity firm's second pan-Asian fund, and is twice the size of its predecessor raised in 2007. Bain Asia Fund I has made either growth or buyout investments in companies in China and Japan, which will remain a focus for the second fund, as will India.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. provided the loan, Basis Point added.

Bain acquired a 93.5% stake in Bellsystem24 in November 2009 from Citigroup for JPY93.5 billion ($1 billion at the time), beating Permira for the asset. That deal was said to be the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan since 2007.

Bellsystem24 provides marketing and customer relationship management services to domestic contact centers in Japan. Softbank is said to be its largest customer. Bain's Japan Chairman Shintaro Hori told Reuters that the company's EBITDA has risen 215% since the PE firm bought the company.

Bain continues to be an active investor in Japan, but its acquisitions of restaurant chain Skylark from Nomura Principal Finance has been put on hold after an outbreak of dysentery led to the closure of 120 outlets in late August. The deal, said to be worth JPY280 billion including debt, could be delayed by a few weeks.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Financing
• Bain Capital Asia
• TMT
• Japan
• buyout
• Fundraising