Management Buyouts in Japan

Abstract

A management buyout market is now developing in Japan as corporations face unavoidable pressures to restructure. In this article we examine the development of the Japanese management buyout market. Based on our three annual surveys of the market we first present trends in market value and volume and vendor and sectoral source of deals. We discuss the factors facilitating the development of buyouts, which are categorized into those leading to the generation of deal opportunities; management's attitudes toward entrepreneurship; the supply of private equity; the infrastructure to complete deals; and the nature of mechanisms to realize investments. The final section considers the implications of our findings for the future development of the market as well as for foreign entrants.