Preliminary programme

Registration and refreshments

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

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?

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?

Emerging markets around the world

For LPs, returns are what matter: Asia’s emerging PE markets compete with other asset classes and other regions for limited partner allocations. In this panel we take a look outside Asia at how other emerging markets around the world are performing.

• Outside Asia, which are the leading emerging markets for PE, and what are their expected growth profiles and key growth drivers? (commodities, domestic markets, exports, other natural resources)

India & China—the emergence and development of the 21st century’s leading economies

With GDP growth either approaching or exceeding 8% for the last quarter, India and China respectively are among the main reasons for Asia’s shrugging off the economic influenza which still has Western economies running a high fever.

• What are the unique—as well as the shared—strengths of the emerging economic superpowers?
• How quickly, and to what degree, is pent-up domestic demand expected to fuel top-line growth in companies serving the two markets? Can foreign suppliers participate?
• What limits are there on FDI in each market, in aggregate, and by sector? Which sectors offer the best investment returns?

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.

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 late?
• Does 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?

Registration and refreshments

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.

• What and where are the headline opportunities in emerging Asia (India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand)? How do they compare to those in developed Asia (Japan, South Korea, Singapore) in terms of risk and return?
• Are Asia’s frontier markets (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Central Asia) ripe for investments yet, and if not, what pieces of the puzzle are missing?
• Where do infrastructure investments fit in a balanced portfolio?
• What are governments around the region doing to stimulate investment in infrastructure, and what are the limitations being set on FDI in this area?

Special address: Security with a kick

A review of how mezzanine can not only add value to PE-funded deals, but also provide a baseline stability to an LP’s PE portfolio: Including why its apparent expense, when compared to other sources of funding, is worth it.

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?

Growth capital in Japan

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?

Growth capital in Japan

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?