Japanese private equity emerging from its torpor

A man walks past the Bank of Japan building in Tokyo. As Japan’s central bank implemented a policy of negative interest rates at the beginning of the year, exacerbating the difficulty of finding investment yield in an era of low returns, more investors started to look at private equity funds as an option. — Reuters

HONG KONG: Japan’s private equity industry, held back by decades of pitiful economic growth and a hostile corporate culture, could see a flurry of activity, with several funds raising capital for deals encouraged by governance reforms and demographic shifts.

Japan’s private equity market is small relative to its economy, which ranks third behind the United States and China.