Megumi Kiyozuka, president of Japanese private equity firm Sunrise Capital, began raising money for his latest fund last year with a goal of hitting $500 million. He’d yet to take his pitch on the road outside Japan before global investors told him they were willing to commit as much as $2 billion.
He decided to stick to $500 million—still plenty of money to put to work. It was a stark contrast to 12 years ago, when Kiyozuka traveled the world for an earlier fund, meeting 200 investors multiple times before finally cobbling together about $200 million from just two. “Years ago, people declined to invest in Japan because they said it was inefficient. Now everyone says they like Japan because it’s inefficient,” Kiyozuka says. “It’s the same reason, but it can be used as a reason to decline or to invest.”
AloJapan.com