By Alison Tudor, Asia Private Equity Correspondent
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Private equity firm Advantage Partners has set up a team in Hong Kong to help ease mergers between sometimes uneasy bedfellows, Chinese and Japanese companies.
The biggest private equity fund headquartered in Japan, Advantage Partners says a key focus is on helping companies it already owns tap into China's fast-growing domestic market.
"The most important objective of the Hong Kong office is to support our current or future portfolio companies in Japan as they look to expand in Asia," Emmett Thomas, Head of Asia for Advantage Partners, told the Reuters Hedge Funds and Private Equity Summit in Hong Kong.
As its Asian business develops, it plans to partner with Japanese companies looking to make purchases in China or help Chinese firms seeking a toehold in Japan, the world's second-largest economy.
"Japanese companies and Chinese companies have different strengths that can be complimentary ... We hope to be a catalyst for them to mingle," said Taisuke Sasanuma, one of Advantage Partners' founders.
There has been very little cross-border M&A between China and Japan to date.
Many Japanese companies have lost money in joint ventures with Chinese firms in recent decades, which has left a sour taste.
Still, the growth of China's domestic market and Japan's ageing population mean Japanese firms will continue to assess opportunities in China. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Japan Investment | Jul 01 - 2, 2008 | Country Summits |
| Global Real Estate | Jun 23 - 25, 2008 | Real Estate |
| Consumer and Retail | Jun 16 - 18, 2008 | Consumer Retail |
| Investment Outlook | Jun 09 - 12, 2008 | Financial Services / Exchanges |
| Global Energy | Jun 01 - 5, 2008 | Energy |
