MBK Partners to sell Japanese jewellery brand Tasaki for over $500 mln -sources

Daiwa Securities

02/11/2023 06:24

By Julie Zhu, Makiko Yamazaki and Kane Wu
       HONG KONG/TOKYO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - North Asia-focused
private equity firm MBK Partners has put up for sale Japanese
jewellery brand Tasaki, in a deal that could value it at more
than $500 million, three people with knowledge of the matter
said.
    MBK has hired investment bank Daiwa Securities  8601.T  to
run the sale, which has entered a second round, said two of the
sources. All three sources declined to be named as the
information was confidential.
    MBK has also approached several private equity firms in a
bid to sell them the brand, two of the sources said.
    Tasaki declined to confirm any information about the sale.  
 MBK and Daiwa declined to comment.
    Established in 1954, Kobe-based Tasaki is known for pearl
jewellery and operates over 100 retail stores in Japan, across
Asia and in Europe.
    MBK took the company private in 2017 in a 31.5 billion yen
($209.5 million) buyout to help speed up decision-making and
expand outside Japan.
    The buyout came nearly a decade after a 7 billion yen
capital injection by MBK saved Tasaki from a crisis caused by
intense competition with cheap Chinese pearls. The investment
resulted in huge returns when MBK exited in 2015.
    MBK has invested in a number of Japanese companies including
Godiva Japan and nursing care provider Tsukui Holdings.
    Advocacy groups Human Rights Now and Justice for Myanmar in
2021 called Tasaki to end all business with Myanmar Pearl
Enterprise (MPE) when the United States imposed sanctions on
MPE. The groups accused Tasaki of supporting the junta by
maintaining business with the state-owned enterprise.
    The alleged Myanmar ties have limited the scope of potential
bidders, said one of the three sources, as well as a fourth
person with knowledge of the sale process.
    Tasaki did not answer Reuters questions about the Myanmar
allegations in its statement.

($1 = 150.3700 yen)

 (Reporting by Julie Zhu and Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Makiko
Yamazaki in Tokyo; editing by Miral Fahmy)
 ((kane.wu@thomsonreuters.com; +85228436590; Reuters Messaging:
kane.wu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))