M&A

Japan – EMEA business update April 2026

NYK on the acquisition trail

Stolt-Nielsen has confirmed it will sell 50% of its stake in its LNG bunkering and small-scale specialist Avenir LNG to Japanese shipowner NYK. NYK has also expanded its dry bulk business by taking full control of Norway’s Saga Welco, an open-hatch bulker specialist. NYK Holding Europe (NHE) will acquire Westfal-Larsen’s 50% stake in Tongsberg-based Saga Welco.

Japan-owned National Car Parks collapses

The UK company National Car Parks has gone into administration. It was acquired by Japanese company Park24 as a majority owner and the Development Bank of Japan in 2017 from Australia’s Macquarie Group. Employee levels peaked in 2018/9 at 1,181 but turnover halved during the pandemic and never recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Park24 is a major parking operator in Japan, most known for its Time brand. Presumably it was hoping National Car Parks was an opportunity for global growth, possibly with a view to expanding EV charging and car clubs to NCP properties. However servicing debt became unsustainable with lower turnover, fixed costs and reduced profit.

Nippon Sheet Glass in talks to be acquired by US fund Apollo

NSG acquired the UK’s Pilkington in 2006, spending 3 billion pounds ($3.98 billion at current rates). As Pilkington was larger, and more global than NSG, it was seen as a reverse takeover. Despite restructuring after the 2008 financial crisis, NSG continued to make losses over the past twenty years, due to a sales slump in the European market and competition from China. The interest on the debt incurred from the Pilkington purchase had become a heavy burden on the company. Pilkington had 2,353 employees in the UK in 2016 and now has 1,600, out of around 12,000 employees in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region – a similar level to around 10 years ago.

Fujitsu to double European defence employees to 2,000

The search for alternatives to US IT suppliers and the need to increase defence spending across Europe has prompted Fujitsu to plan on sending 1,000 staff (the Nikkei Asia article implies from Japan rather than recruiting locally) to Belgium, Germany and other NATO countries over the next few years.

SMFG to acquire Jefferies?

Japanese financial group SMFG considering acquiring US investment bank Jefferies – which has over 1200 employees in its European HQ in London and offices in Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Zurich

Japanese style convenience stores may be coming to Europe

“Consumer sentiment in Europe approaches that of Japanese, with a strong focus on food quality,” said 7-Eleven CEO Dacus + “there is a strong demand to purchase high-quality food at affordable prices” https://asia.nikkei.com/editor-s-picks/interview/7-eleven-parent-eyes-13bn-investment-in-overseas-expansion

Japanese food sector continues to go global

Japan’s Zensho Holdings has expanded its European footprint with the acquisition via its UK subsidiary Wonderfield Group of Polish food group Sushi & Food Factor – a leading Polish producer of packaged sushi and convenience food products supplying to 15 countries in Europe. In 2025, Wonderfield opened a new state-of-the-art production facility in West London, to supply sushi and convenience products to retail partners across the UK.

Nikon divests Mark Roberts Motion Control after 10 years

Nikon has agreed to sell camera robotics specialist MRMC to UK investment firm Blandford Capital in what looks to be a Management Buy Out. Nikon acquired MRMC in 2016 and it has been struggling to make a profit over the past ten years. It employs just over 100 people in the UK.

Bridgestone divests Exhaust, Tyres and Batteries

Bridgestone has sold its 2018 acquisition of UK company Exhaust, Tyres and Batteries to Oak Tyres. The company has 4 warehouses across the UK and employs around 500 people.

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Japan – Europe, Middle East & Africa business update

The Japanese clutch and automotive transmission manufacturer Exedy is buying Protean Electric, the UK-based developer of in-wheel motors (IWMs) for electric vehicles, for around €30m. Exedy says the acquisition will help it to transform its portfolio to provide new opportunities in the automotive sector as it undergoes “a major transformation”.

What Japanese companies are doing about the situation in the Middle East – Inpex, Chiyoda, Toray, MUFG, Sony are pulling out some or all of their expatriate staff and families from UAE and Saudia Arabia. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Sojitz, Kanadevia, and Yusen Logistics are all banning travel through or to Middle East. Muji has closed its UAE store.

Asahi Kasei has unveiled plans to acquire German biopharmaceutical firm AiCuris in a deal worth 780 million euros ($920 million). The deal is intended to expand Asahi Kasei’s portfolio of treatments for immune-related infections . Asahi Kasei’s operations span across chemical engineering, housing and healthcare. It plans to integrate research, clinical development and commercialization of its pharmaceutical business across Japan, the U.S. and Europe. AiCuris develops antiviral therapies for people with weakened immune systems. Its flagship product, Prevymis is used to prevent viral infections in organ transplant recipients.

Long-standing accounting fraud at Nidec could result in a $1.6bn fine. The company’s founder and former CEO, Shigenobu Nagamori stepped down as chairman emeritus in February 2026. He is seen as ultimately responsible for the problems, as he “applied considerable pressure on executive officers in the Nidec headquarters who were responsible for the business units and subsidiaries as well as the CFOs to achieve the performance targets.” Nidec made several acquisitions overseas, and now has 13,691 Nidec employees in Europe, Middle East + Africa – out of 104,000 worldwide.

German automaker BMW will adopt smart-car technology supplied by Japanese company NTT Docomo Business for new models to be sold globally in 2026, instead of its usual German supplier.

Toyota group company Denso has bid to acquire Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Rohm. Rohm’s European headquarters are in Germany, and it employs around 186 people in Germany, France, Spain, UK and Hungary, out of 23,000 worldwide. Despite the German-sounding name, Rohm is a Japanese company, founded as Toyo Electronics in 1958, then renamed R.Ohm, then renamed Rohm.

Denmark’s Vestas, the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines used in offshore wind power generation, will set up a factory in Japan – possibly in Kitakyushu or Hokkaido – by fiscal 2029 to tap growing demand there and elsewhere in Asia. Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy and Hitachi used to make wind turbines in Japan, but pulled out, as did Mitsubishi Corp from investing in offshore wind projects in Japan.

Biggest European companies in Japan

Having looked at the largest foreign-owned companies in Japan in a previous post, we thought we’d take a look at the largest companies in Japan owned by European companies in more detail.

By employee number, they are:

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck – Germany (89.2% owned by Daimler), #3 overall, 10,633 employees
Bosch – Germany, #10 overall, 5,254 employees
Chugai Pharmaceuticals – Switzerland (59.8% owned by Roche), #12 overall, 5,026 employees
AstraZeneca – UK, #17 overall, 3,700 employees
IKEA Japan – Netherlands (yes, not Sweden, it’s owned by Ingka Group, which is a franchisee of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.), #19 overall, 3,602 employees
NOK – Germany (25% owned by Freudenberg Group – maybe not strictly speaking foreign owned therefore), #21 overall, 3,337 employees
DHL Supply Chain – Germany, #24 overall, 3,000 employees
Compass Group Japan – UK, #26 overall, 2,684 employees
Novartis Pharma – Switzerland, #30 overall, 2,600 employees
GlaxoSmithKline – UK, #32 overall, 2,500 employees
Louis Vuitton Japan – France, #32 overall, 2,500 employees
Nestle Japan – Switzerland, #34 overall, 2,400 employees
L’Oreal – France, #35 overall, 2,350 employees
Veolia Jenets – France, #41 overall, 2,000 employees
Phillips Japan – Netherlands, #43 overall, 1,942 employees
DHL Japan – Germany, #45 overall, 1,900 employees
Pioneer – Sweden, #46 overall, 1,859 employees
SAP Japan – Germany, #49 overall, 1,727 employees
Boehringer Ingelheim – Germany, #50 overall, 1,700 employees
Valeo Japan – France, #52 overall, 1,660 employees
Bayer – Germany, #56 overall, 1,591 employees
Ichikoh industries – France (61% owned by Valeo), #60 overall, 1,485 employees
Cap Gemini – France, #62 overall, 1,400 employees
Sanofi – France – #65 overall, 1,334 employees
Autoliv – Sweden – #66 overall, 1,332 employees
Lush – UK – #67 overall, 1,300 employees
Johnson Controls – Ireland, #70 overall, 1,282 employees
Novo Nordisk – Denmark, #72 overall, 1,274 employees
Sika – Switzerland, #80 overall, 1,136 employees
ICON Clinical Research – Ireland, #85 overall, 1,000 employees
NN Life Insurance – Netherlands, #87 overall, 975 employees
Zurich Insurance – Switzerland, #89 overall, 946 employees

= 33 BASF Japan – Germany, #92 overall, 920 employees

=33 GKN Driveline Japan – UK, #92 overall, 920 employees

35. Mahle Engine Components Japan – Germany, #96 overall, 880 employees

36. Lacoste Japan – France, #98 overall, 851 employees

37. Dassault Systems – France, #100 overall, 850 employees

There are many missing names from this, so it is just indicative, based on whatever company responded to Toyo Keizai’s enquiries. but overall it seems that European companies represent around 37% of the largest foreign companies in Japan. American companies are around 46% of the largest foreign companies in Japan, with the remaining 17% being owned by companies from Taiwan, Israel, India, China, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia – plus Japan Display, owned by a company, Ichigo Trust, registered in the Cayman Islands, which is technically UK territory.

10 of the 37 are German, 9 French, 6 British (or 7 if you count Japan Display), 5 Swiss, 3 Dutch, 3 Swedish, 2 Irish, 1 Danish. The missing major European economies are Italy and Spain. Judging by size of economy, the UK looks a bit underweight.

8 are pharmaceutical manufacturers or clinical research related and the other main categories are automotive manufacturing/engineering and consumer brands.

At least 6 (7 if you count Japan Display) are the result of acquisitions or at least a major investment in Japanese companies – Compass Group acquiring NKS for example.

Two swallows make a summer?

We were somewhat sceptical when the Financial Times greeted Mitsubishi Corporation’s $1bn acquisition of Norwegian company Grieg Seafood’s salmon farms as being part of a record breaking acquisition spree by Japanese companies. It seemed that here in Europe at least, Japanese acquisitions had not really picked up momentum at all, compared to the pre Brexit and pre pandemic years.

Then today it was announced that Yusen Logistics is spending $1.45bn on acquiring Dutch healthcare logistics company Movianto – subject to EU approval. NYK, the parent company of Yusen Logistics, had already acquired a majority stake in Swedish company Northern Offshore this year and UK company Global Freight Solutions and Dutch company Parts Express last year. Movianto has around 5,400 employees in Europe, primarily in the Netherlands, France and UK.

Although Mitsubishi Corporation has a long history of involvement in salmon and seafood, stretching back to the mid 20th century, as the Financial Times article points out, the acquisition of salmon farms represents a more general trend of Japanese food related companies strengthening Japan’s involvement in the food supply chain, from farming through to restaurant chains. The most recent entrants into our Top 30 largest Japanese companies are Fulham Shore (The Real Greek and Franco Manca restaurant chains, now owned by Toridoll) and Yo! Sushi, now owned by Zensho.

Yusen Logistics is already in our Top 30 largest Japanese companies in the UK, with 1,863 employees. If Movianto UK remains an independent company rather than merged into Yusen Logistics, it too will be in the Top 30, with 1,354 employees. If they are merged, Yusen Logistics will be the 4th largest Japanese company in the UK, after Nissan, Fujitsu and Kwik-Fit (owned by Itochu).

Both NYK and Mitsubishi Corporation are in the same Mitsubishi group of companies, who have been key players in Japan’s global supply chains for the past 150 years.

Rudlin Consulting is the Europe, Middle East and Africa Representative of Japan Intercultural Consulting, which provides post-merger integration cultural training and consulting.

What is a Japanese company anyway?

One of many jobs I did not get over the years was a board position for an investment trust focused on Japan. In the “any other questions for us?” bit at the end, I raised the issue of “how do you define a Japanese company? Is it enough just to say it is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange? Or headquartered in Japan?” In retrospect, a foolish question to ask at that point and the chair simply shut me down and said that was a topic for debate for another day. Which of course never happened. And a year or two after that interview, I had a certain amount of schadenfreude watching the fund’s Net Asset Value take a dive.

Is SoftBank?

What triggered that question was that the fund had made a lot of money over the years investing in SoftBank, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is headquartered in Japan, but to my mind, not really a Japanese company. This is not some racist point about the founder, Masayoshi Son, being ethnically Korean. More that, as an investor, rather than just simply thinking of your portfolio as a series of aggregated regional or national risks, with each regional or national economy moving in a particular direction and counterbalancing each other, in the case of Japanese companies, another risk to consider might be the particular way that traditional Japanese companies behave and whether the fund is investing in those traditional Japanese companies, or emerging ones.

Nissan – run by a Mexican, using Chinese batteries, manufactured in the UK for sale to the US?

Even some of those traditional Japanese companies are no longer owned by Japanese shareholders. I was reminded of this by the recent coverage in the UK of the British government contributing a substantial part of the £1bn funding for an AESC electric vehicle battery factory to be built in Sunderland, to supply Nissan. AESC is described as “Japan-owned” but actually the controlling majority of shares is owned by Envision, a Shanghai based company. AESC’s headquarters are in Japan, however, and Nissan still owns some shares in it.

That this news came a day after the announcement of a UK-US trade deal which will (if signed) dramatically reduce tariffs on UK cars being exported to the USA does not seem a coincidence – even though some commentators say this scanty deal was rushed through so as to be announced in time for the 80th anniversary VE day.

Another announcement the UK government might have wanted to synchronise with was the leaked news that that the new, Mexican CEO of Nissan will announce tomorrow (13th May) plans to cut 20,000 jobs worldwide. Looking at the capacity utilisation and sales data for Nissan, Japan, the USA and China look likely to bear the brunt of this. Production has already ended in Argentina and India. Nissan will also announce that it is not going ahead with building a battery factory in Japan. So, using the Sunderland plant and the AESC factory for batteries for the new Leaf, and exporting to the USA looks like a plausible plan now and one that the UK government is presumably also happy to back.

Other Nissan suppliers, traditionally Japanese, are also now foreign owned, depending on how you classify this. Marelli (which used to be Calsonic Kansei in the UK) and Vantec (a logistics company) are both now owned by KKR Japan – the Japanese operation of the US owned private equity and investment company, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Back to SoftBank again

If you look at our 30 largest Japan-owned companies in the UK, employing around 65,000 people, you’ll see some surprising names such as Kwik-Fit and The Fulham Shore (owners of The Real Greek and Franca Manca), which was acquired by Toridoll, who have other more obviously Japanese brands such as Marugame Udon. Other companies such as Stapleton’s Tyre Services, the Financial Times, Micheldever Tyre Services, Building Design Partnership and Liberata are also all acquisitions by Japanese companies. And of course, ARM, which was acquired by SoftBank in 2016 An acquisition which, according to the British government at the time, showed Britain’s economy can be successful after leaving the EU. SoftBank then tried to sell ARM to Nvidia, and finally floated it in 2023 – on NASDAQ, rather than the London Stock Exchange.

Kubota to build excavator factory in Germany

Japanese construction machinery maker Kubota will build a new factory in Germany to produce mini excavators, planning for a long-term rise in demand in Europe despite sluggish demand in the region. Kubota already has a factory nearby employing over 500 people and another factory in France, producing tractors, where it also has an R&D centre. It acquired the Norwegian agricultural machinery manufacturing company Kverneland in 2012.

JERA and BP to merge offshore wind businesses

Japanese energy provider and British oil company BP are to set up a company named JERA Nex bp in the U.K. by next September after they gain approval from authorities. They intend to invest $5.8bn in the 50-50 venture by 2030. Both have been struggling to achieve profitability in offshore wind due to rising costs. Presumably it is hoped that the larger scale of the merged business will help to find economies. The new company will be the fourth largest industry player in terms of the amount of offshore wind power capacity, including those under development.

JERA already has offices in London and Amsterdam. Its subsidiary JERA Trading acquired EDF Trading’s coal and freight business Amstuw BV, which operates the Rietlanden coal terminal in the Netherlands, in 2016.

Nippon Life to acquire Resolution Life

Nippon Life is negotiating to acquire Bermuda headquartered Resolution Life for $8.2bn, making it the biggest ever acquisition by a Japanese insurer. The last major acquisition in this sector was MS&AD acquiring UK non-life insurance and reinsurance company Amlin in 2015 for $5.3bn.

Resolution Life was founded by British philanthropist Sir Clive Cowdery and was a consolidator of closed book insurance – taking on life insurance policies from companies that wanted to focus their business elsewhere. As it was originally headquartered in the UK, many of the brands it now looks after are British, but it also has businesses in Australia and the USA – all together employing around 1,800 people. It moved its headquarters to Bermuda and had investments from private equity group Blackstone and Nippon Life. Nippon Life is now negotiating to acquire Blackstone’s share.

Nippon Life had already been seconding staff to Resolution Life to understand the closed book business and has been helping Resolution Life expand its business in Japan. Nippon Life has both a branch office and an investment subsidiary in London, employing around 30 people and an office in Germany.

It has been lagging behind on overseas expansion compared to other Japanese insurance companies, with only 4% of core profit coming from its overseas business, compared to Dai-ichi Life’s 34% in 2022.

Marubeni-Itochu Steel adds another British company to its supply network

Marubeni-Itochu Steel has acquired Scotland based plate processor Angus F. Gunn via its UK subsidiary Barclay & Mathieson. This adds to Marubeni-Itochu Steel’s capacity to supply British oil and gas, renewable energy and construction industries.

Marubeni-Itochu Steel accquired Glasgow based Barclay & Mathieson in 2022. It has around 400 employees, whereas Angus F. Gunn has 25 employees. Marubeni-Itochu Steel Europe is based in Germany, with a branch in London, alongside Marubeni-Itochu Tubulars, which employs around 50 people, with operations in Milan and Algiers.

Toppan to acquire Swedish Assa Abloy’s Citizen ID business

Toppan will acquire the Citizen ID business of HID Global Corporation, which is in turn owned by Sweden’s Assa Abloy. Although Assa Abloy is Swedish, HID Global is headquartered in the USA, and Toppan say they are acquiring it to expand their global security business in South America, Africa, and other regions. HID Global has operations in Czech Republic, Ireland, France, Poland, Switzerland and the UK – although to what extent these businesses will now be split up is not yet clear.

The acquisition is part of Toppan’s goal to pursue US$326m of overseas acquisitions by the end of fiscal 2025, shifting its business focus from printing to security and packaging. Toppan used its financial subsidiary set up in Singapore last year to secure stable financing for acquisitions and other investments for the acquisition of the CID business.

Last updated by Pernille Rudlin at 2026-04-08.

Category: M&A