Permira appoints senior advisor for Japan

Global buyout firm Permira has hired former KPMG international vice chairman Hiroaki Yoshihara as a senior advisor to focus on technology, media and telecom deals in Japan.

Yoshihara retired from KPMG in 2007, at which time he was international vice chairman and global managing partner at the audit and consulting firm. He was responsible for the development of the firm’s global strategy and also in charge of KPMG’s top 250 global accounts. He joined KPMG in 1978.

Yoshihara held a number of leadership positions during his tenure at KPMG, including chairman of the firm’s global electronics industry sector and the global Japanese practice sector. He was also the national managing partner of the Pacific Rim practice and the chairman and CEO of KPMG Global Solutions and KPMG Business Advisory.

Yoshihara is currently on the board of Murata Manufacturing, a Japanese manufacturer of electronic components and a senior adviser to KPMG Japan.

Yoshihara’s “contacts within Japanese companies as well as his thorough understanding of the strategies and cultures within which those companies operate will add significant value to our franchise,” co-managing partner of Permira Tom Lister said in a statement.

Permira has made one investment in Japan since opening its first local office there in September 2005. Last year, the firm acquired Arysta LifeScience, a Japanese agrochemical company, from Olympus Capital Holdings Asia, a mid-market private equity firm, in a secondary deal worth about $2.2 billion.

Permira manages assets of about €22 billion, and has made 190 investments since its inception in 1985.

Last month, global buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts appointed Yoshiharu Fukuhara, honorary chairman of Japanese luxury cosmetics manufacturer, as a senior advisor for its activities in Japan.

In the same month, AIG Investments appointed Michael Chae to help guide the expansion its alternative investment activities in Japan.