CITIC Capital Closes $220M Japan Buyout Fund

CITIC Capital Partners last week closed its second Japan buyout fund with 10 billion yen ($220 million), Reuters reported. The size of the fund is only 60% of what the firm originally targeted. CITIC Capital is owned by China Investment Corp., China’s sovereign wealth fund, CITIC International Financial Holdings Ltd and CITIC Pacific Ltd, Reuters said.

(Reuters) – CITIC Capital Partners closed its second Japan buyout fund, raising 18 billion yen ($220 million), which was 60 percent of what the fund had originally targeted.

The flagship investment arm of CITIC Group, China’s No.1 financial conglomerate, was eyeing as much as 30 billion yen for the fund. .

The fund was closed last week, CITIC said in a statement.

There had been a pick-up in private equity activity in Japan recently prior to last week’s earthquake, but overall, buyout funds have struggled to complete deals because of a dearth of opportunities.

Earlier this month, Advent International said it was closing its Japan office and had wound up its 60 billion yen fund. Carlyle Group also reduced the size of its fund by 50 billion yen to 165.6 billion yen in 2009.

CITIC Capital is owned by China Investment Corp , China’s sovereign wealth fund, CITIC International Financial Holdings Ltd and CITIC Pacific Ltd .

CITIC Capital’s first Japanese fund had 17 billion yen in commitments from investors. (Reporting by Stephen Aldred; Editing by Chris Lewis)