Houlihan Lokey Advises Next Capital Partners

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Next Capital Partners Co., Ltd. (NCP) has sold Marui Industrial Co., Ltd. (Marui) to Ichinen Holdings Co., Ltd (Ichinen). The transaction closed on October 16, 2023.

Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Tokyo, NCP is a private equity firm with a strong track record in advising turnaround and restructuring transactions.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Niigata, Marui manufactures automotive exterior and interior decorative products (such as decorative emblems, radiator grills, and wheel covers) using molding, painting, printing, and laser etching technologies. Marui operates in Japan and Thailand and previously operated a joint venture company in China, Swell Marui (Guangzhou) Automobile Parts Co., Ltd. (SMA), with Ningbo Swell Industry Co., Ltd. (Ningbo Swell).

Founded in 1930 and headquartered in Osaka, Ichinen (TSE:9619) primarily engages in automobile leasing and maintenance as well as machine tool sales. It also operates chemical, parking, and synthetic resin businesses.

Marui had a capital relationship with Nissan Automotive in the past. However, the relationship was terminated in 2000 due to Nissan’s structural reform. Since NCP’s investment in Marui in 2017, NCP successfully executed a turnaround by consolidating operations and focusing on profitable products. This transaction marks NCP’s exit following its successful restructuring of the company.

For Ichinen, this transaction fits with its strategic plan to expand its ASEAN business, as it could acquire Marui’s Thai business, which is a pillar of Marui’s revenues. Ichinen also expects to realize synergies between its synthetic resin business and Marui’s resin molded products.

Houlihan Lokey acted as the sole financial advisor to NCP on this transaction, particularly in designing the deal process to maintain competitive dynamics under challenging COVID-19 conditions and the market shift toward EVs. Houlihan Lokey aimed to maximize the aggregate transaction value and succeeded by separately selling the target company’s interest in SMA (Chinese JV) and the target company itself through global auction processes.