Japan’s INCJ to compete with PE on national interest grounds

Kimikazu Noumi, president and CEO of INCJ, said his three-year old vehicle doesn't tend to go head-to-head with private investors, and has withdrawn from potential transactions when bids have come in from the likes of venture capital firms. However, Noumi does not intend to bow out if he thinks a private firm's strategy would have a negative impact on domestic industry.

An example would be the sale of strategic assets to rivals overseas.

"We'll think first if our investment [stance] is positive or negative for Japanese industry," he told the Wall Street Journal. He claimed he was not referring to any specific investment.

In late September it was reported that INCJ had formed a consortium with several local companies with a view to bidding more than JPY100 billion ($1.3 billion) for Tokyo-listed Renesas. If the deal goes ahead, it would block plans announced in August by KKR to invest the same amount in the unprofitable company.

The Japanese firms said to be participating in the INCJ bid for a majority stake are Renesas customers Toyota, Nissan and Honda, electronics group Panasonic, Canon, Fanuc Corp and auto parts makers Denso Corp and Keihin Corp. Several of the bidders appear to be trying to guarantee themselves a stable supply of the vehicle microcontrollers that Renesas supplies.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Industrials
• Buyouts
• Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ)
• KKR
• Japan