Carlyle Divests Qualicaps And Chimney

Carlyle has announced that it has agreed to sell its entire shareholdings in Qualicaps (Nara, Japan) to Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings (4188). Qualicaps is the largest provider of pharmaceutical capsules in Japan and is the second largest in the global high quality capsule markets, which has an estimated size of USD 1.2 billion with single-digit growth in recent years.

According to Mitsubishi Chemical, Qualicaps was valued at JPY 55.8 billion (USD 656 million) (inclusive of debts). The revenue of Qualicaps is estimated at JPY 19 billion (USD 230million) in 2012. Qualicapse CEO said, "During Carlyle’s ownership, our revenue and EBITDA increased by more than 50% and 120% respectively.." The transaction is expected to close in March 2013.
Carlyle acquired Qualicaps from Shionogi (4507) in October 2005 reportedly for JPY 20-25 billion (USD 235-300 million).

10 days ago,  Carlyle also announced that its majority-owned restaurant operator, Chimney, relisted by making a public stock offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Second Section on December 14, 2012 and that Carlyle would sell shareholdings in the company equivalent to around 53% of total shares issued.

In December 2009, Carlyle sponsored Chimney's MBO and acquired a 87.56% of the company for JPY 19.4 billion (USD 228 Million) of which JPY 8.6 billion was financed by debts.

INCJ And Japan Consortium To Acquire 75% Of Renesas

On December 10th, the Innovation Network Corp. of Japan announced that INCJ and the consortium of 8 leading japanese companies will acquire 75% of Renesas Electronics Corp  (6723) for JPY 150 billion (USD 1.79 billion). INCJ will acquire 69.2% of all outstanding shares, while the consortium of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Nissan Motor Co. (7201), Denso Corp. (6902), Keihin Corp.(7251), Panasonic Corp. (6752), Canon Inc. (7751), Nikon Corp. (7731) and Yasukawa Electric Corp.(6506) will own 5.8% in total.

INCJ In Talks With Sony For The Purchase Of Battery Operations

According to a Nikkei report, Sony Corp. (6758) has begun negotiations to sell its battery operations to the Innovation Network Corp. of Japan and  the government-backed fund has already proposed a price. Plans under consideration include Sony going ahead with a full sale as well as retaining a partial stake.
Taiwanese firm Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. has reportedly shown interest as well.

Advantage Partners To Buy Sanyo's Camera Business

Sanyo Electric Co. a subsidiary of Panasonic Corp. (6752), will sell its digital camera business to Advantage Partners. Sanyo spun off its digital camera and movie camera business section to Sanyo DI Solutions Co. in July this year to streamline operations. Sanyo and the special purpose company to be funded and managed by Advantage Partners entered into an agreement on the transfer of all the shares of Sanyo DI Solutions as of March 31, 2013. Financial terms are not disclosed.

An earlier report by The Nikkei said "The deal to sell all shares in Sanyo DI Solutions Co., along with its Indonesian factory, for an estimated several hundred million yen would close a chapter in the streamlining effort." "Sanyo's digital camera business manufactures products for Olympus Corp. (7733) and other brands on an OEM basis. Squeezed by the spread of smartphones sporting high-quality cameras, the market for digital compact models has shrunk. Sanyo's annual production has slumped to roughly 5 million units from a peak of 17 million, accounting for around 30% of global output at the time, with sales down from 220 billion yen in fiscal 2003 to tens of billions of yen. The business has apparently been mired in red ink."