British Fund Permira to Invest Up to 300 B. Yen in Asia

Tokyo, Dec. 17 (Jiji Press)--Major British private equity fund Permira has revealed a plan to spend up to 300 billion yen for large acquisitions of businesses in Japan and other parts of Asia. "We want to invest 200 billion to 300 billion yen in Asia, including Japan" in the next three years, Ryotaro Fujii, Permira's Japan operation chief, told Jiji Press. Believing that mergers and acquisitions involving major companies and their business divisions will increase amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and stock price surges, Permira "alone can handle an acquisition deal worth hundreds of billions of yen" by capitalizing on bank lending, Fujii stressed. He also expressed willingness to invest in industry sectors where digitalization has been progressing at an accelerated pace, including transportation and services, in addition to the retail, consumer goods manufacturing, medical services and technology industries the fund has already been focusing on. "Old industries will be able to change drastically" by digitizing operations, such as telephone orders and paperwork, Fujii noted. However, the auto parts industry and other sectors where further technical innovations can hardly be expected to happen are not attractive for Permira, he indicated. Meanwhile, Fujii pointed out that massive liquidity supply by the governments and central banks across the globe to cushion the huge adverse effects of the pandemic may create "the biggest economic bubble in history." "Economic recovery and swelling of the bubble will provide investment funds with good business opportunities," Fujii said. But he quickly warned of the possibility of the bursting of the bubble leading to a serious economic downturn. END