“Bellsystem was a very successfully traded public company,” said David Gross-Loh, managing director at Bain Capital Japan in an interview on Nov. 19. “Bain Capital is likely to consider listing Bellsystem24 in the future.”
Bellsystem24 was listed until it was bought by
“Call center industry has become more established in Japan as companies increasingly outsource this type of customer related service to focus on their core business,” Gross-Loh said.
Citigroup said on Nov. 15 it agreed to sell its stake in Japanese telemarketer Bellsystem24 to Bain Capital for 93.5 billion yen ($1 billion) in the largest private equity deal in Japan involving a foreign buyout shop in almost two years.
Bain Capital used its $1 billion Asia-focused fund to take care of the equity portion of the deal. That fund still has about $500 million left, Gross-Loh said.
Going forward, Bain Capital will continue to seek out new deals in Japan, including those in the $1 billion size range.
“Japanese companies are facing a number of challenges in this difficult economic environment and are increasingly viewing private equity as a viable solution,” he said.
(Reporting by Junko Fujita)