Integral To Invest In TV Commercial Maker

Integral Corporation, a Tokyo-based private equity firm, announced that Integral will acquire a 44.4% in TYO Inc, a second-ranked TV commercial producer. Integral is to pay 1.3 billion yen for new issues, becoming the largest shareholder.

Mizuho To Launch Y10bn Small-Business Fund

Mizuho Bank will start a fund to invest in small and midsize companies, with about 10 billion yen in capital, according to Nikkei. The fund will invest about 1 billion yen at a time, buying preferred stock, subordinated loans and other assets. The Mizuho Financial Group Inc. subsidiary will put up 3 billion yen for the fund and raise the rest from life insurers, trading companies and other investors.

SBI and Fudan Univ. To Launch Funds In China

SBI Holding, Inc. a financial conglomerate, announced that SBI and Fudan University, one of China's leading universities in Shanghai will jointly establish two private equity funds in China. One fund will be US$ based and the other RMB based. SBI and Fudan plan to engage in joint fund raising activities for the RMB fund in China. SBI will establish a fund management company in China to manage both funds. SBI has so far established JV funds with Beijing University and Tsinghua University. In China, major universities serve as the basis for the formation of industrial groups. So this time the funds will invest in start-ups and related companies of Fudan who mainly focus on the fields of biotechnology, green technology, IT, media and alternative energy.

Kyowa Hakko Kirin To Sell Chemical Unit to JIP

Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., a major fermented chemical manufacturer, announced that it will sell its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kyowa Hakko Chemical Co., to Japan Industrial Partners, a Tokyo-based private equity firm. Kyowa Hakko Kirin, by divesting the chemical unit, concentrates on the field of medical products and pharmaceuticals.

Mamiya-OP To Acquire Golf Maker From Next Capital

Mamiya-OP Co., a listed manufacturer of electronic equipment, announced that Mamiya will acquire 91.2% of shares in Kasco Co., a golf maker, mainly from Next Capital Partners, a Tokyo-based private equity firm. Mamiya already supplies golf shafts to US makers on its OEM base and with this acquisition, decided to become a golf equipment manufacturer. Kasco, with an investment from Next Capital in 2006, has expanded business.

ORIX To Acquire US Asset Manager

ORIX Corporation, a financial conglomerate, announced that the ORIX USA Corporation will acquire a majority interest in MIG Holdings, LLC, the parent company of Mariner Investment Group, a leading hedge fund and alternative investment manager. Mariner Investment Group, founded in 1992, manages $11.7 billion with 166 employees in NY, Boston, London and Tokyo. ORIX will focus its asset management business in the US.

Asahi Tec To Sell Water Treatment Subsidiary To Nippon Mirai Capital

Asahi Tec Corporation, a major manufacturer of malleable iron casting products, announced that it will sell all shares in its consolidated subsidiary, Asahi Tec Environment Solution Company (ATES) to Nippon Mirai Capital, a Tokyo-based private equity firm. By divesting ATES which manufactures and markets water supply and sewerage equipment and water treatment devices,
Asahi Tec will focus on its automobile business to deal with robust demands from developing countries.

Japan Snapping Up Foreign Bonds At Record Pace

Japanese investors went on a foreign bond purchasing spree in the January-September period, with net buying jumping 60% on the year to 20.94 trillion yen, far above the full-year record of 15.85 trillion yen set in 2005, according to Nikkei. The major buyers are the banking sectors who accounted for about 60% of the period's foreign debt purchases.

Morgan Stanley To Roll Over Loans For ANA Hotel Deal

Morgan Stanley and lenders have reached an agreement to roll over loans arranged for the US investment bank's acquisition of 13 hotels from the All Nippon Airways group in 2007, according to Nikkei. Morgan Stanley acquired the hotels for 381.3 billion yen, contributing 55 billion yen itself with the rest consisting of three year-year loans from Shinsei Bank, Citi Banks and GSIC. Citi is believed to have been replaced by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Group this time.

Apparel Makers Merge To Weather Shrinking Market

Sanei-International Co. LTD. and Tokyo Style Co., LTD. announced that they will establish a new holding company on June 1, 2011 through a joint share transfer. Both companies are listed on the first section of TSE and the new holding company will be the third largest apparel maker following World Co. and Onward Holdings Co.

DeNA To Buy Social Game Developer

DeNA Co., a TSE-listed operator of SNS game sites as well as e-commerce sites on mobile phones, announced that it will pay up to $403 million to buy ngmoco Inc., a San Francisco firm that makes mobile social games like Touch Pets, We City and Godfinger. As DeNA aims to be the largest gaming platform in the world, this acquisition is part of their overseas expansion. DeNA will pay a total of $303 million in cash and stock when the deal closes on Nov.9. If the ngmoco is able to meet certain performance targets, DeNA will pay up to an additional $100 million in cash and equity. The major shareholders of ngmoco are KPCB Holding, Institutional Venture Partners, Northwest Venture Partners.

GPIF To Buy Emerging-Market Stocks Next Summer

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), which AUM is about 117 trillion yen, plans to expand its investment portfolio to include emerging-market stocks next summer, according to Nikkei. The GPIF has mainly invested in Japanese government bonds and other domestic debt securities with around 9% in foreign securities. It plans to revise its investment guidelines to buy shares listed in the BRICs, South Africa, Mexico and other emerging countries.

Dentsu To Establish The Dentsu Digital Fund

Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency, and its affiliate, Dentsu Digital Holding Inc. (DDH) announced that they will jointly contribute up to a total of 10 billion yen to establish the Dentsu Digital Investment Business Limited Partnership ("Dentsu Digital Fund"). The objective of the fund is to accelerate the growth of the Dentsu Group's digital businesses and to contribute to the healthy development of the digital communications market not only in Japan but also in countries such as the United States and China. The newly established fund will be operated by DDH.

BOJ Returns To Zero Rate Policy

The Bank of Japan announced today that it would guide the overnight call rate at a range of zero to 0.1% from the previous target of 0.1%. The BOJ also set up a 5 trillion yen fund to buy assets ranging from government bonds to commercial paper and corporate bonds, and will accept another 30 trillion yen of those assets as collateral under a loan scheme.

AP To Roll Up Condo. Maintenance Business

United Communities Co., a holding company of condominium management and renovation companies, announced that it will acquire Marimo Community Co., a Hiroshima-based operator of condo. maintenance services. United Communities is a portfolio company of Advantage Partners, one of the major private-equity firms in Japan. It recently bought Yoko Building System Co. and it will rank 9th in the industry with the Marimo deal.

Jobless Rate Down to 5.1% in Aug

The ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 5.1% in August from 5.2% in July. The same ministry, in a separate report, stated that the core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, fell 1% in August from a year earlier. The jobless rate has improved but deflation still continues.