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Japan Government-Backed Fund Eyes Investing in Auto, Technology Companies

by on February 12, 2010

By Mariko Yasu Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Innovation Network Corporation of Japan , the government-backed investment fund started in July, is looking at the nation’s automotive industry and technology companies for its first investment, an executive said. More than 200 companies including Toshiba Corp. and Alps Electric Co. have sought investment from the fund and some negotiations are close to a conclusion, Haruyasu Asakura, chief operating officer of the Tokyo-based fund, said in a Feb. 10 interview. “We plan to prioritize products or technologies that have global competitiveness and a bigger impact on Japanese enterprise.” INCJ has almost 900 billion yen ($10 billion) of financial support from the government and 19 private corporations including Panasonic Corp. and Toshiba, according to the fund’s statements . It aims to spur growth of Japan’s economy by promoting consolidation and nurturing new businesses, according to the fund’s Web site. “The expertise of carmakers, electronics makers and companies that are supporting them, such as manufacturers of measuring instruments, are important,” the 48 year-old former Carlyle Group managing director said. The fund is also looking at companies that can expand in the water-infrastructure business, renewable energy devices and smart-grid systems, Asakura said. INCJ, which has hired about 40 employees so far, will likely make its first investment this year, he said, In November, the fund partnered with Toshiba, Japan’s biggest chipmaker, to offer for the power-grid unit of Areva SA , the world’s largest builder of nuclear reactors. Areva said Nov. 30 it awarded exclusive negotiating rights to Alstom SA and Schneider Electric SA, which bid 4.09 billion euros ($5.6 billion) for the business. Alps, a Tokyo-based auto electronics maker, agreed with INCJ to jointly investigate the commercial viability of components that can improve the power efficiency of electronic products, the company said Dec. 1. To contact the reporter on this story: Mariko Yasu in Tokyo at myasu@bloomberg.net .

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Philip N. Cohen: Keeping the Mancession in Perspective

by on January 15, 2010

Too early for women’s victory parade. As Catherine Rampell has pointed out in greater detail, the new Census report by my friend Rose Kreider shows a change, but not a sea change, in the gender-and-family employment picture. The report is based on the March Current Population Survey, so we can compare March 2008 with the Great Recession March of 2009 . Of particular interest is table FG1 from those reports, which provide this information: The ” mancession ” idea isn’t crazy, since men have lost a lot more jobs than women – because of the industries hit hardest – but let’s keep it in perspective. Looking at the tables, you could say the number of married couples with children in which only the wife was employed increased by a whopping 37% in one year – from 1.4 million to 1.9 million. Yikes. But the graph shows how rare this condition remains: 7.4%. And the opposite condition – husband only employed, is four-times as common. Employed men really do still outnumber employed women. But we might want to start lowering expectations for the importance of that single number – which we may well reach someday – given men’s wage and occupational advantages and greater likelihood of working full time, while doing less housework and childcare. At least as important, the pattern of pairings – the commonness of more-employed men and less-employed women leading families with children – still skews way male. So Rosie can break for a sandwich, but if she’s aiming for a decisive victory it’s too early to rest on her laurels. Cross-posted from the Family Inequality blog.

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Philip N. Cohen: Keeping the Mancession in Perspective

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Smart distressed asset investors are acting now

December 29, 2009

Savvy investors are no longer looking at the residential housing market but the commercial real estate market. The distressed commercial real estate market in the coming months and years will make the residential market look like a …

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Greggs looks at Threshers’ stores to drive expansion

November 11, 2009

Ken McMeikan, the chief executive of Greggs, said: ‘Our property team is looking at the Thresher [and FQR] estate. We look at every chain that goes into administration. It would probably be in the region of less than 10 per cent of the estate.’ He added

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Fortune’s Stanley Bing: Help! I don’t wanna die!

November 2, 2009

Those who were enjoying a weekend of high sports drama or familial bliss might have missed another media obituary this past Sunday — David Carr’s persuasive au revoir to business journalism in the New York Times. Carr cites several “technical reasons underlying the collapse — and that’s what it is — of business journalism.” It’s hard to argue with him, not to mention dangerous. You don’t want a guy like Carr mad at you. Still, you’ve got to hope he’s being a bit pessimistic in order to make his point, and that there’s still some life in the game if somebody can figure out a new way to do it. Carr suggests that the beat itself has lost its mojo, because its subject — essentially the aggrandizement of Business and its practitioners — has disappeared. We’re not interested in big, glossy spreads of the superpeople who run the economy and its constituent parts. We don’t want to see one more big piece on how great this or that financial wizard might be… because we’re not in the wizard business anymore. Yet the need for stories that concern the making and spending of money have never been more important. The collapse of this discipline as a popular art form will spell disaster in the short and long term. Short term — we won’t know what’s really going on even more than usual. Long term — same, only bigger. So what should those who cover Business be writing about, and not? Here are some early suggestions: NO: The Financial Sector. I’m bored with it. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be coverage. But about 80% of all stuff right now is about Wall Street, banks, financial institutions, rich farts getting bonuses, and so forth. Been there. Done that. Unless a guy is running around in front of the stock exchange with his or her pants on fire, I’m not as interested as I should be anymore. YES: People in other areas of enterprise who are making news in one way or another. There must be some other fields of endeavor where people make something other than decisions and big money. I mean… aren’t there? NO: Prognostications from economists and security analysts. With the winnowing-away of huge swaths of reporters and editors, a lot of newspapers, magazines and websites now confine themselves almost exclusively to reporting on the reports of those whose job it is to issue reports. Sometimes these guys are right. Sometimes they’re wrong. They’re seldom very interesting to read about. But it fills space, particularly the more outlandish and opinionated ones. YES: Bovine methane emissions and attempts to either reduce or monetize them. NO: Davos. The Allen Conference. Any other story that features the usual stiffs wearing blue jeans and white water rafting. That includes Bono. YES: Auto workers who are still employed. How science is making our lives better. Malls that are sinking into the swamps on which they were built. Stem-cell start-ups in weird locations. Businesses that are actually making money, instead of those that are grooming themselves for a VC run. You know… business. Remember business? NO: Global. YES: Local. NO: Dead stuff and why it’s dying. YES: Having fun in Tokyo. NO: What old guys are thinking. YES: What young people are doing. NO: Tech. YES: Sex. Business is about life, not death; about freedom, not prison; about struggle, not defeat. Sometimes when the story isn’t going your way, you have to change the story. What was first in importance is now last; what was last is suddenly first. Maybe it’s time we all started looking at the front end of the elephant for a while. The view is different from up there.

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Sacramento Real Estate Market Charts – April 2009

May 15, 2009

After steadily declining this spring, average price per square foot rose 1.8% from March. According to TrendGraphix, that was the first monthly increase in Sacramento County since April 2007. Prices are still below January levels and down 23.1% from last year. Turning to median price, the Sacramento Association of Realtors reports the median price in Sacramento County (and West Sacramento) fell 29.5% in April. That was the first year-over-year decline since March 2008 not to reach at least -30%. So far, no “spring bounce” for median price as measured by the MLS. The median for single-family homes has been essentially flat since February. Unlike the previous three years, the median price has remained below January levels. The median price is now at April 2001 levels. Sales in April were 17% higher than the previous year. That was the smallest year-over-year increase since March 2008. Looking at the historical record, sales remain at relatively high levels. While the inevitable spring bounce between February and March was the weakest in at least 9 years, that is not surprising considering the record sales of January and February. Here’s a look at the percentage of MLS sales which were bank-owned. At its peak in January 2009, REO sales made up three-fourths of total MLS sales. That proportion has dropped off in the last few months as REO inventory has shrunk, presumably due to legislative tinkering and private foreclosure moratoriums. Finally, here’s an update on Sacramento County’s foreclosure statistics from ForeclosureRadar .

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