M&A firm aims to link up Japan investors with Singapore SMEs seeking successors

SOME small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore have difficulty finding successors, while some Japanese investors are looking for opportunities in South-east Asia. Nihon M&A Center Singapore aims to connect both groups.

“People here see M&A (mergers and acquisitions) more as a growth strategy for their business or partnership, not so much as a useful tool for succession planning,” said Masahiro Nishii, managing director of the boutique deal advisory firm.

In this sense, the Singapore market is “not as mature” as in Japan, where a rapidly greying society has driven more Japanese family-run businesses to seek out M&A services for succession planning, he added.