Who/What exactly is this Ripplewood-led consortium group

[Skankster]

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Does anybody have the lowdown on them???

It seems like they are making a killing buying and selling the old now defunct Japan Inc.

Info please.

[GuyJean]

Info please.

Do an FG search for 'Ripplewood'.. You'll find a couple threads devoted to Ripple..

This one in particular:
Ripplewood buys Japan Telecom
http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4237

GJ

[Skankster]

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I know what they do. I just wonder who they are???

[Ketou]

Founded in 1995, Ripplewood has a strong track record of adding value to acquired companies and supporting their growth as global competitors. To date, the firm has invested nearly two billion US dollars in 39 companies located around the world....

Ripplewood, a manager of private investment funds established in 1995, makes direct investments in select industries that provide opportunities for significant growth, consolidation, and rates of return. With its Industrial Partners, Ripplewood typically buys platform companies as core holdings, then pursues predefined strategies to support the operating management and enhance the value of the businesses. Ripplewood manages approximately $2.8 billion of capital and currently has eight partnerships in automotive parts and retailing, banking, consumer products, food manufacturing and distribution, wireless technology, industrial manufacturing, chemicals, and educational publishing and training. In addition, Ripplewood led a consortium of investors in purchasing the Shinsei Bank of Japan (formerly the Long Term Credit Bank of Japan) in 1999. Ripplewood was the first foreign investor permitted by the Japanese Government to purchase a Japanese lending institution.

From a news article

[gkanai]

Go to a bookstore or library.

Pick up Gillian Tett's "Saving the Sun"

It's a good intro to Ripplewood.

That or fire up Google.

[Skankster]

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Ive done the google route several times b4.
I was wondering if there was someone who knows the LOW LOW LOWDOWN (as in who is financing them? why this person(s) choose Japan? do they have a J-connection? were they born in 1995 or is there a history of these financiers b4 that? who is the Prez? who is on the board? where are they located? how can I get ahold of them?)

Sorry if these esoteric questions were not obvious.

[American Oyaji]

I agree with Skankster because it seemed that article was all fluff and no substance.

I need names.

[Mulboyne]

The name "Ripplewood" comes from CEO Timothy Collins' family tobacco farm in Kentucky. He set the firm up 10 years ago after stints at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, Lazards and Onex. His firm was engaged in low-profile but profitable buy-out deals in the US. He has backing from Mitsubishi Shoji, among others. LTCB/Shinsei was Ripplewood's first foray into Japan and the real star of that takeover was Christopher Flowers, an ex-Goldman Sachs banker.
This 2001 Business week article and related items gives you most of what you are looking for:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_50/b3761008.htm

Ripplewood buy businesses if they can find the right advisors/partners. Shinsei was a great success but their other investments have not been stellar. One of them, Seagaia, looks like a turkey. In a way, they are suffering from "Warren Buffet" syndrome. Once you get a reputation for being a smart investor, nobody wants to sell you anything because they think that if you want to buy, it must be worth something. Similarly, buyers are concerned about buying from you in case they end up holding an overpriced asset.

That dilemma may explain this recent action at Ripplewood
http://www.hedgefundsworld.com/tmpl/article.aspx?V&ID=21321

[dimwit]

Thanks Mulboyne. Good info there. I've heard the name for a while and never been able to figure out anything about them.

[Mulboyne]

LTCB/Shinsei was Ripplewood's first foray into Japan and the real star of that takeover was Christopher Flowers, an ex-Goldman Sachs banker.

Flowers is back in the public eye picking over the wreckage of REFCO.

Refco, Inc. announced today that it is in advanced negotiations with a group of investors led by J.C. Flowers & Co. for the sale of the Company's futures brokerage business conducted through Refco LLC, Refco Overseas Ltd., Refco Singapore Pte. Ltd., and certain related subsidiaries and other assets.

Japanese regulators were surprisingly slow to act on this one. The markets were screaming "fraud" but REFCO's Japanese site was still offering new account services (now removed). There is still nothing on the site to indicate what's happening with the group.

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Foreign investors drop buyout tactic

With the nation's economy improving, foreign investment funds are finding slim pickings in bottom fishing. Once seen as vultures cashing in on moribund companies, the funds are now focusing on viable enterprises with strong growth potential. They are also concentrating on longer-term strategies to improve business performances. Timothy Collins, chief executive officer of RHJ International [Ripplewood], said the business of buying ailing companies on the cheap and selling them for quick profits will not grow anymore. RHJ International listed its shares on the Brussels stock exchange in March to augment its credibility and win confidence from companies in good standing, its potential targets. [That is stretching the truth - they listed to get out of difficult investments like Seagaia]
...In the 1990s, many Japanese companies fell into bankruptcy when lenders, burdened with bad loans, cut off credit to risky borrowers. In the past year or so, however, the number of companies needing rescue from investment funds has declined sharply. Japanese managers, who tend to shun outsider involvement, are increasingly accepting participation by foreign investment funds. Gakusei Engokai Co., a 49-year-old Tokyo publisher known for its job information magazine, is one example. In September, the management bought the company with investments from Carlyle Group of the United States...Resistance to a foreign fund had substantially diminished within the company partly because many Japanese businesses had been purchased by foreigner
...By spring, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., of RJR Nabisco fame, will open an office in Japan. Others, such as Bain Capital and Blackstone Capital, are considering setting up shop, sources said. A KKR executive said competition in Japan is less intense than in the United States and Europe.

FG Thread: When is a vulture not a vulture?