The global investment firm has hired a long-serving Bank of America Merrill Lynch investment banker to its senior leadership in Japan as it reinforces its commitment to the market.
KKR has appointed Hidekazu Harada as managing director on its private equity team in Tokyo, the firm announced in a statement on Thursday.
Harada was most recently a board member and co-head of Japan Investment Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he has worked since 2004. In his previous role, he was primarily responsible for financial sponsors, TMT, mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, and leveraged finance. Harada also worked for Daiwa and PwC.
«This appointment, along with additional experienced hires to our team, reinforces our long-term commitment to Japan and underscores our view that private equity will continue to be an important strategy in this market,» said Hiro Hirano, partner, co-head of private equity for KKR Asia Pacific and CEO, KKR Japan, in the statement.
Key Investment Market
Japan is a key market for KKR, which established an office in the country in 2006. The firm has invested more than $2.2 billion of equity into companies there, KKR said.
KKR's current and former private equity investments in Japan include, but are not limited to, PHC Holdings (formerly Panasonic Healthcare), AlphaTheta (formerly Pioneer DJ), Magneti Marelli CK Holdings (formerly Calsonic Kansei), Koki Holdings (formerly Hitachi Koki), Kokusai Electric (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric), and Persol Career (formerly Intelligence).
The firm has also recently strengthened its ranks elsewhere in Asia, with the appointment of Wong Chee-Wei as its head of global impact for Asia, based in Singapore, and Lucian Schoenefelder as its APAC head of tech.
