J-Star promotes Satoru Arakawa to partner

Arakawa, a principal with the firm since 2007, has been involved in three investments: construction machinery manufactuer Taiheiyo Seiki; senior healthcare firm HCM and printed circuit board manufacturer TSS. He has also been engaged in value-add activites with portfolio companies in the industrial and healthcare sectors.

Prior to joining J-Star, Arakawa worked for eight years in strategic consulting at Nomura Research Institute.

The promotion comes ahead of the firm reaching an anticipated final close of JPY20 billion ($210 million) for J-Star's second fund. Despite being larger than its predecessor - a JPY12 billion vehicle that closed in 2007 - the fund will make investments with the same average ticket size of JPY1-2 billion.

With more deals in their pipeline, J-Star has been looking to build out its team; this latest promotion brings the total number of partners with the firm to five.

Since it was established in 2006, J-Star has invested in 11 companies in the consumer, services, healthcare, environmental and manufacturing industries.

The firm has seen two lucrative exits in the past few months: the strategic sale of Japanese pharmaceutical firm Apo Plus Station, generating a 3x money multiple; and the turnaround of hip teen clothing brand Olive des Olive, which also saw a 3x return.

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