Preliminary programme

Registration and refreshments

Opening keynote: Japanese innovation and its role in the global economy

Nobuyuki Idei, Founder & CEO, QUANTUM LEAPS CORPORATION

Japan in a time of flux

The global financial crisis has taken its toll on everyone from trading companies to PE fund managers. In Japan’s case though, it might well turn out to be just the catalyst that the market has been waiting for. Meanwhile, the PE community will soon receive the ultimate accolade: the government’s launch of INCJ—the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.

• How are PE funds harnessing Japan’s deepening economic malaise to build strategic relationships with institutions and promoters?
• How are PE fund managers and business leaders thinking about Japan’s role in the region and in the world, in light of its structural challenges at home?
• How have Carlyle, Bain and Marunouchi Capital managed to get away multi-million-dollar deals in the last quarter, and will other managers follow?
• Is the announcement of the death of buyouts in Japan premature, and what prospects are there for growth capital investments in the world’s second-largest economy?

Moderator
Philip Bilden, Managing Director, HARBOURVEST PARTNERS (ASIA) LIMITED

Panelists
Richard Folsom, Representative Partner, ADVANTAGE PARTNERS, LLP
Masa Yoshizawa, Representative Director & Partner, THE LONGREACH GROUP
Masato Marumo, Managing Director, THE CARLYLE GROUP
Jun Tsusaka, Partner, TPG CAPITAL
Tatsuo Kawasaki, Partner, UNISON CAPITAL

Venture capital

The past year has seen a flurry of VC deals completed in Japan, many of them early-stage or even seed investments. While this trend was begun in 2008 by the regional Small and Medium Business Investment & Consultation companies, 2009 has seen a much greater degree of private-capital investment:

• Where has this spurt of creativity come from, and which sectors is it focused on?
• Is Japan developing its own “Silicon Valley” ethos outside the research arms of the big conglomerates?

Moderator
Hiromichi Mizuno, Partner, COLLER CAPITAL LIMITED

Panelists
Yoshiyuki Shibusawa, Director, JAFCO COMPANY JAPAN
Soichi Kariyazono, Partner, GLOBIS CAPITAL PARTNERS
Tomotaka Goji, Managing Partner, THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO EDGE CAPITAL

Turnarounds, restructuring and other special situations

If European and other governments reviled LBO investors as “vultures”, surely they must celebrate turnaround-merchants as, if not saints, certainly the good-Samaritans of the investing community. As the credit crunch has bitten into companies’ ability to borrow, and management and financing inefficiencies have gradually eaten up their cash flow, a good number of otherwise-strong firms have begun to falter:

• What are the key differences between companies which can be saved, versus those which can’t, and how do turnaround professionals spot the difference?
• Where are regulations helping with early-intervention, and which countries impede the access of restructuring funds until it’s too lateDoes government-sponsored debt underwriting / forgiveness strengthen economies or simply sustain corporate zombies at a high cost to the taxpayer?
• What is the net effect on the wider economy?
• What are the most important tools in the “special situations” investor’s arsenal?

Mid-market opportunities

Big buyout deals are frozen due to tighter financing which makes mid-market focused funds can enjoy the oasis in credit desert. Japanese medium size companies are fundamentally good companies with good technologies but not yet have the ambition for growth, private equity firms should take the opportunities on helping Japanese companies to expand while having attractive price and gain.

• Is the market space for mid-sized deals sufficiently large for everyone to get a slice in Japan?
• How can GPs overcome the resistance from Japanese corporations when they are not ready or planning for drastic restructuring and growth?
• What sectors are looking attractive to fund managers?

Special address: Investing in infrastructure

Infrastructure is well-understood to be fundamental to the success of developed economies. The recent redoubling of development in Asia’s two emerging majors, China and India, serves notice to the rest of the world that their respective governments are very serious about developing—and fast. Here we look at opportunities around the region – for GPs and LPs.

Speaker
Anthony Miller, President & CEO, PACIFIC ALLIANCE JAPAN LIMITED

Small-to-Medium-sized Enterprises: Japan’s Mittelstand comes to the fore

Growth capital accounted for 10% of the deal value in 2009, and over 20% of total deal volume. The value of deals in 2009, at US$ 470m, was five times the 2008 total of US$ 90m.

• What has driven the explosion of growth capital deals in 2009?
• How does deal pricing in Japan compare with elsewhere in Asia?
• How are banks’ principal investment arms influencing private groups’ ability to source and close deals?
• What are the value drivers for investors in Japanese companies, and how are GPs unlocking this value?
• What organisational changes are GPs effecting within their portfolio companies, and how easy or otherwise is it to get management to accept their suggestions?

Moderator
Hiroko Oda, Manager, Investment Department, MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE CO LTD

Panelist
Ryosuke Iinuma, Executive Director, ANT CAPITAL PARTNERS
Tomoki Abe, Partner, NIPPON MIRAI CAPITAL
Ayumi Sakurai, Co-Representative Partner, VALIANT PARTNERS

Special address: Real estate opportunities in Japan and across Asia

A review of the opportunities in real-estate, both in Japan and around Asia. Both PE-style investments in developers, as well as annuity income from investing in R.E. management companies.

Gala dinner

Dinner keynote address

Tetsutaro Muraki, President & CEO, TOKYO AIM

Registration and refreshments

Keynote address: INCJ investment strategy

Haruyasu Asakura, COO, INNOVATION NETWORK CORPORATION OF JAPAN

Asian Opportunities: Hidden and not-so-hidden gems from around the region

For India and China, GDP growth has respectively approached and exceeded 8% for the quarter ended Dec ‘09. Other Asian economies benefit from these two leviathans’ huge appetite for goods and services, whilst at the same time servicing their growing domestic markets with everything from fast food to financial products.

Where are the most consistent returns to be had around developing Asia?

• What limits are there on FDI in each market, in aggregate, and by sector? Which sectors offer the best investment returns?
• What are the unique—as well as the shared—strengths of the emerging economic superpowers?
• Is Australia just a well-run homologue to Europe and the US – and what does that mean for access and returns?
• How quickly is domestic demand fuelling growth in companies serving China and India? How can foreign suppliers participate?

Speaker
Joe Zhou, Founder & Managing Partner, KEYTONE VENTURES

Security with a kick

Mezzanine investors must think all of their Christmases have come at once: Credit is scarce, expensive, and laden with covenants, PE firms have a lot of dry powder in their arsenals still, and the slashing of portfolio company valuations during the GFC mean that fund managers are keener than ever to use leverage to juice up their equity returns:

• Why is Mezz worth the money?
• What is mezzanine’s place in a balanced PE portfolio – how does its inclusion affect portfolio risk & returns?
• How have recent mezz. investments been structured in terms of base rates, hurdles, conversion thresholds and so on?

Speaker
Joseph W Ferrigno III, Managing Partner, ASIA MEZZANINE CAPITAL GROUP

Lessons from horticulture—transplantation of J-business models to the rest of Asia

Japan’s kaizen discipline has led to many of her companies becoming the leaders in their fields globally: Canon, Honda, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Nomura are but a handful of high-profile examples. With the gradual inversion of the country’s population pyramid however, Japan’s up-and-coming companies are facing an increasingly tough battle to gain share in a shrinking market.

• What are the core factors which have buoyed Japan to number two in the world rankings, and how exportable / replicable are these business models outside Japan?
• Where have Japanese corporates been cultivating growth around the region, and where do future opportunities lie?
• What challenges do companies face in making overseas acquisitions, and how can private equity play a role in minimising or eliminating these hurdles?
• Which sectors of the economy offer the most fertile ground for transplantation of business models, or grafting on new growth?

Speaker
Ashok Roy, Managing Director, DAIWA QUANTUM CAPITAL

LP's appetite for Japan and the rest of Asia

Japan’s domestic LPs are looking to diversify their portfolios whilst enhancing returns, and many are beginning to look for opportunities beyond Japan’s shores. Meanwhile, international institutional investors remain interested in Japan’s highly developed economy, if not always fully engaged.

• What are the big attractions in Japan’s PE market? Do regional or country-specific funds offer the best vehicle, and what’s the right degree of internationalism in local teams?
• Where do LPs stand on the issues thrown up by ILPA’s white paper? Will the status quo persist, or are the winds of change blowing?
• How can LPs hedge their exposure to exchange-rate movements? And what can GPs do to help?
• How are Japanese funds performing relative to their cousins in the rest of Asia?

Moderator
Kazushige Kobayashi, President & CEO, ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT CAPITAL LTD

Panelists
Masahiko Ishida, General Manager, Fund Investment Group, DEVELOPMENT BANK OF JAPAN
Motoya Kitamura, Associate Director & Sr. Vice President, MACQUARIE FUNDS GROUP
Togo Okonogi, Manager, Investment Department, NIPPONKOA INSURANCE
Toru Masuda, Associate General Manager - Private Equity Investment, SUMITOMO TRUST & BANKING CO.