Citic Capital Buys Tokyo Boxmaker

Chinese state-run investment company Citic Group has acquired a majority stake in Tokyo-based cardboard maker Tri-Wall KK, the Nikkei business daily reported without citing sources.

Citic’s private-equity arm Citic Capital Partners paid several billion yen for shares held by Tri-Wall investors. It plans to back Tri-Wall’s expansion and aims at listing the box maker’s stock in Hong Kong in a few years, the paper said.

Tri-Wall does most of its business in heavy-duty cardboard in Asia outside of Japan with the region making up 75 percent of its sales, the daily added.

Nikkei said Tri-Wall welcomed Citic Capital Partners as a majority investor, partly due to its interest in a Hong Kong listing.

Citic Capital Partners set up shop in Japan in 2004 and has investments in tableware maker Narumi China Corp, canned-coffee vendor Pokka Corp and Higashiyama Film Co 4244.T, among others, the business daily said. (Reporting by Tenzin Dekeva in Bangalore)