BX Blackstone Inc

By Kosaku Narioka 

Blackstone Group Inc. is buying the consumer health-care business of Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for Yen242 billion ($2.3 billion), one of the larger private-equity acquisitions in a country where such deals are slowly expanding.

Takeda has been pushing ahead with a plan to divest $10 billion worth of assets to pay down debt it incurred from the $58 billion acquisition of Shire PLC last year. The drugmaker has said it wants to focus on prescription drugs.

Atsuhiko Sakamoto, head of private equity for Japan at New York-based Blackstone, said it planned to invest in the business to boost market share, add new products and expand in Asia outside Japan. Blackstone hopes to list the business in Tokyo after putting it on a growth path, he said.

The business includes energy tablets and other products that generated more than Yen60 billion in revenue in the year ended March 2020.

Mr. Sakamoto said he expected other Japanese drugmakers to divest their over-the-counter businesses, and Blackstone would be interested if they do.

Japan has seen more private-equity deal making in recent years. A Bain Capital LLC-led consortium bought Toshiba Corp.'s memory-chip unit for $18 billion in 2018. Earlier this year, a group comprised of U.S. private-equity firm Lone Star Global Acquisitions Ltd. and employees of Unizo Holdings Co. acquired Unizo, a Japanese real-estate company, for $1.9 billion.

Mr. Sakamoto said Blackstone was interested in companies that could reduce medical costs as Japan's population ages. Over-the-counter medicines fit that description because they don't require doctors' time, he said. Last year, Blackstone bought Ayumi Pharmaceutical Corp., a Japanese maker of biopharmaceutical drugs that are similar to but more affordable than previously approved biologic medicines.

In general, Mr. Sakamoto said the coronavirus pandemic would be a chance for new investments because it may lead some companies to divest noncore businesses.

Blackstone has been active in the Japanese real-estate market as well. Earlier this year, Blackstone agreed to pay more than Yen300 billion for a portfolio of 220 apartment buildings mostly in Tokyo and Osaka, according to people familiar with the matter.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 24, 2020 07:53 ET (11:53 GMT)

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