Japan SMEs seen in need of PE funding

Singapore-based private equity firm Risa Partners Asia is seeing appetite among Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises to expand outside their home market for the first time. The move is being supported by Japanese regional banks, with the number of representative offices they have in Singapore having doubled over the past three years, noted Seow Wei Qi, director of Risa Partners Asia, which is backed by Japanese technologies firm NEC Group. But private equity is “no longer…