The FINANCIAL — Dow Jones (Japan) K.K. and Japan Venture Research K.K. (JVR) have announced a new business alliance in venture information services. The agreement sees the exchange of information between the two companies, to supply investors and venture capitalists worldwide with increased access to data, research and analysis on Japan ventures. The partnership is set to improve the transparency and visibility of the Japanese market in the global marketplace by structuring information according to global standards and in the English language.
Foreign investors have historically been hesitant to invest in Japanese companies, while Japanese investors have traditionally not been receptive to foreign financial investors. But with Japanese companies’ increasing appetite for expansion overseas, Japan looks set to see more inbound investment to support overseas expansion. Japanese private equity investment totalled 124 billion yen over April 2011 to March 2012 and foreign investors accounted for less than 10% of that amount, according to Dow Jones & Company. The latter is set to increase over 2013, promising more opportunities for Japanese ventures.
This new alliance between Dow Jones and JVR is a timely development. The addition of JVR’s Japan venture data to Dow Jones VentureSource opens up the Japanese market to new sources of private equity as information becomes more readily accessible to overseas investors and venture capitalists.
With the alliance, Japan venture information will be recorded in line with global benchmarks so Japanese venture companies can internationalize their operations more easily and align their practices to the global markets in which they are active. It will also allow overseas investors and venture capitalists to more readily gather information about unlisted Japanese companies, making it easier for them consider investing in Japanese venture businesses. At the same time, it is expected that unlisted Japanese companies which historically have had difficulty raising funds, will see an increased chance for direct investment from foreign sources, according to Dow Jones & Company.
“We are delighted this new partnership between Dow Jones and Japan Venture Research is formalised. Through this alliance there will now be a wider global audience for Japanese investment. After a slow recovery, the Japanese market is once again booming and by sharing this information in the global standards format this will be of huge benefit to the international markets looking to invest in Japan,” said Wendy De Cruz, Head of Institutional Sales, Dow Jones.
JVR will share data on approximately 7,000 Japanese venture companies (representing around 90% of the market), and Dow Jones will provide JVR with data from its global venture database. The alliance enables Dow Jones to expand the Japanese venture company information in VentureSource, and allows JVR to compare venture finance on a global level in its own reports, according to Dow Jones & Company.
Mr. Toshihisa Adachi, chairman of the Japan Venture Capital Association welcomed the alliance and the improved database for both sides. “As markets globally are starting to reconsider the potential innovation capability of Japanese venture companies, this alliance is the right move at the right time. It is a very significant development for the cultivation of the local venture capital industry. Looking to the future, our association intends to utilize the available information to its maximum,” Mr. Adachi said.
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