Japan's buying habits were one of the highlights of November's M&A webinar, and as I had recently returned from Tokyo, I was able to address these trends.
The yen has been skyrocketing, and it is up roughly 80% over the last decade against both the US dollar and the Euro. One effect of this is that American and European companies now look cheap to Japanese buyers, and their cash glut is leading them to snap up companies frequently. Like American corporations who have much of their cash trapped overseas, Japanese firms are using a global M&A strategy to put their overseas cash reserves to work. With the current surge in activity, we expect that 2011 will be one of the best years for Japanese tech acquisitions in the last decade!
The trending buyers are many large companies that you will be very familiar with, instantly recognizable household brand names. Corum has been involved in deals with a number of these giants, including NTT Data, Hitachi and Fujitsu. However, you won't always be able to find a record of our efforts, as Japanese companies often shy away from publicity when they acquire.
Now might be the time to brush up on your Japanese, in anticipation of your tech company drawing attention from across the Pacific.