Japan’s succession crisis yields country’s best-performing IPO

The succession crisis bedeviling smaller Japanese companies has become a growth engine for Next Generation Technology Group, turning it into the country’s best-performing initial public offering last year.

The startup focuses on buying manufacturing firms without a clear succession plan. Shares of the company have risen 202% since their listing last February, beating the likes of artificial-intelligence driven JX Advanced Metals.

NGT went public in an IPO which valued it at ¥17 billion ($111 million) and that valuation has now grown to ¥90 billion after it acquired companies with niche technologies along the way. Its acquisitions include construction warning signs maker Tiock, fork lift seller Advance and optical films equipment maker Shinohara Manufacturing.