SBI Buys Hikari Tsushin's Venture Capital Business

SBI Holding Inc., a financial conglomerate and Hikari Tsushin Inc., a leading sales agency in mobile phones & office equipments, agreed to the transferring of executive authority cooperative operation/development of the Venture Fund Business owned by Hikari Tsushin's subsidiary KK Hikari Private Equity (HPE). SBI Group operates a variety of venture capital businesses with particular interest in the IT and Bio/Environmental sectors. The group's venture capital branch boasts top total operation assets of 250 billion yen ($2.5 billion) and has a record of over 100 companies' IPO and M&A exits. On the other hand, HPE plans and operates venture funds primarily in the IT/Telecoms (mobile content/media included) sector, the environmental sector and the medical/healthcare sector, which may have assets of more than 10 billion yen ($100 million). This deal would allow Hikari Tsushin to focus more management resources towards sales activities such as OA equipment, insurance policies and mobile phone sales and other expansion operations.