Japan’s Private Equity Deals Are Booming as Funds Seek Bargains (2)

Megumi Kiyozuka, president of Japanese private equity firm Sunrise Capital, began raising money for his latest fund last year with a goal of hitting $500 million. He’d yet to take his pitch on the road outside Japan before global investors told him they were willing to commit as much as $2 billion.

He decided to stick to $500 million—still plenty of money to put to work. It was a stark contrast to 12 years ago, when Kiyozuka traveled the world for an earlier fund, meeting 200 investors multiple times before finally cobbling together about $200 million from just two. “Years ...