TOKYO/DAVOS, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Chinese group Lenovo
(0992.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s No. 4 PC brand, is to invest $175 million
in a joint venture with Japanese company NEC (6701.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to sell
PCs in Japan, it said, to help it outpace global market growth.

The new company will also sell personal computers to the
overseas Japanese population, and has no plans to sell
NEC-branded computers on Lenovo’s home turf in China, NEC chief
executive Nobuhiro Endo said on Thursday.

TOKYO, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Permira [PERM.UL], CVC Capital
Partners [CVC.UL], Advantage Partners and Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
are considering submitting bids to buy Japanese food supplement
maker Everlife from CLSA Capital Partners, five people familiar
with the transaction said.

CLSA Capital Partners, a private equity arm of Credit
Agricole SA (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), has started a sale process and the first
round of bids will close on Jan. 31, the people said.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Cerberus Capital Management CBS.UL, TPG TPG.UL, Tokyo Star Bank, J Trust Co (8508.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Korea’s A&P Financial have advanced to the final round of bidding for failed Japanese consumer lender Takefuji, four sources with direct knowledge of the deal said.

The five suitors will submit offers for Japan’s No.4 consumer finance lender in a second and final round of bidding at the end of February, the sources told Reuters on condition they were not identified because the information is not public.

TOKYO, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Cerberus Capital Management
[CBS.UL], TPG [TPG.UL], Tokyo Star Bank, J Trust Co (8508.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and
Korea’s A&P Financial have advanced to the final round of bidding
for failed Japanese consumer lender Takefuji, four sources with
direct knowledge of the deal said.

The five suitors will submit offers for Japan’s No. 4
consumer finance lender in a second and final round of bidding at
the end of February, the sources told Reuters on condition they
weren’t identified.

TOKYO, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will sell its
stake in Accordia Golf (2131.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a deal worth about $450
million, marking the U.S. bank’s exit from its investment in
distressed golf courses in post-bubble Japan.

Goldman bought a string of golf courses in Japan following
the bursting of the country’s economic bubble in the early 1990s,
when many went bust and were sold-off at rock-bottom prices.

TOKYO, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Drugmaker Otsuka Holdings (4578.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
failed to exercise its greenshoe option after a $2.4 billion IPO
last month, in a sign of ongoing weak demand in Japan for newly
debuted shares.

Some 90 million shares were sold in its IPO and the drugmaker
had earmarked another 4.5 million shares to be sold by
shareholders if demand for the stock was strong.

TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co
(8750.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will take full control of Tower Australia Group Ltd
(TAL.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for $1.2 billion in cash, the latest in overseas
acquisitions by Japanese insurers keen to move away from a
stagnant home market.

It is the first major purchase by Japan’s No.2 life insurer
since its $11 billion stock market debut in April, and is
another deal for Australia’s $1.2 trillion wealth management
sector, which is growing thanks to compulsory private pension
schemes.
While Dai-ichi did not raise any money through its IPO, it
said it would use it as a springboard to push into overseas
markets to address concerns about its growth prospects in
Japan, where the population is shrinking.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co said it would buy the shares it does not already own in Tower Australia Group Ltd for 99.6 billion yen ($1.2 billion) as it seeks expansion overseas.

Japan’s No.2 life insurer said it would pay A$4.00 per share for Tower Australia, a 47 percent premium over its latest closing price. Dai-ichi said it would use cash to finance the acquisition and aims to complete the transaction in May.

TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Japan’s Dai-ichi Life Insurance
Co plans to buy the shares it does not already own in
Tower Australia Group Ltd for about 100 billion yen
($1.21 billion), the Nikkei business daily said on Tuesday.

It would be the first major acquisition by Dai-ichi Life,
Japan’s second-largest life insurer after Nippon Life
Insurance Co, since it listed its shares on the Tokyo Stock
Exchange in April after an $11 billion initial public offering.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Otsuka Holdings (4578.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted modest gains in their debut on Wednesday after the company priced its $2.4 billion IPO conservatively to offset investor worries about future competition for its mainstay schizophrenia drug.

Otsuka, Japan’s No.2 drugmaker by sales after industry leader Takeda Pharmaceutical (4502.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), closed at 2,140 yen, 1.9 percent above the 2,100 yen per share price for its IPO, which was the largest globally for a pharmaceuticals firm.