Former Japan Exchange head joins KKR as chairman
KKR has named Atsushi Saito, former head of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and the Japan Exchange Group (JPX), as the non-executive chairman of KKR Japan.
Saito most recently served as CEO, president and representative executive officer of JPX, and was president and CEO of TSE - and its holding company Tokyo Stock Exchange Group - prior to that. It was during his tenure at Exchange Group that Saito oversaw the merger of TSE and the Osaka Securities Exchange to form JPX in 2013.
Before that, he served as president and CEO of government-sponsored turnaround investor Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan (IRCJ). He was also CEO of Sumitomo Life Investment, and held various executive roles at Nomura Securities where he was appointed as a member of the board in 1986.
His new role will be effective from August 1.
"Mr. Saito's experiences across investment, management and policy will better enable KKR to partner with strong business owners and stakeholders in Japan and pursue new opportunities during this exciting time for investment," said Hiro Hirano, CEO of KKR Japan.
KKR's most significant Japanese investment include integrated human resources company Intelligence Holdings which it bought 2010 and subsequently sold to to Temp Holdings in 2013; and the 2014 carve-outs of Panasonic Corporation's healthcare unit and Pioneer Corporation's DJ equipment unit.
More recent the firm completed Panasonic Healthcare's bolt-on acquisition of Bayer Aktiengesellschaft's Switzerland-headquartered diabetes care unit.
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