Development Bank of Japan launches $1.5b fund

In a statement, the government-backed DBJ said the fund launch was part of a wider initiative outlined in the interim report it had published last January on strengthening the competitiveness of Japanese industry.

The vehicle will invest exclusively in domestic companies, assisting innovation and expansion through the provision of mezzanine loans and the purchase of preferred stock.

DBJ did not identify any target sector nor did it specify the size of investments it would make but added it had the option of expanding the size of the fund over the next fiscal year.

The announcement comes just two days after the Japanese Private Equity Association (JPEA), which counts buyout firms KKR, Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group among its members, urged the Japanese government to cut the role of state-backed funds.

The JPEA said such funds had squeezed out opportunities for private capital and delayed the restructuring of troubled companies. The largest of these state-backed funds - Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) and Enterprise Turnaround Corporation of Japan (ETCJ) - have the capacity to raise up to $37 billion to inject money into Japanese companies. 

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Fundraising
• Japan
• Growth capital
• Japan Private Equity Association (JPEA)
• The Development Bank of Japan (DBJ)