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.