Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group announced that its majority-owned company, Broadleaf Co. Ltd. has gone public on March 22, 2013, with its shares trading on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Carlyle sold 16,480,000 (73 percent of the total number of shares outstanding) of its holdings in Broadleaf and allocated the remaining 2,813,000 shares (13 percent of the total outstanding) for an over-allotment. Including the over-allotment portion, Carlyle will sell all of its shareholdings. Carlyle Japan Partners II acquired Broadleaf in November 2009.
Broadleaf is one of the largest auto after-market software providers in Japan, providing IT solutions and services to maintenance and repair shops, body shops, dismantlers and parts distributors. With its proprietary IT systems, auto-part databases and network technologies, Broadleaf provides business applications for streamlining operations to 30,000 clients, helping them improve their operational efficiency and support their business development activities.
Broadleaf became independent in November 2009 through a management buyout (“MBO“) supported by Carlyle, whose purpose was to focus on the long-term growth strategy of the company, including business model transformation and overseas expansion, in order to cope with the drastic changes in the automotive industry following the global financial crisis.
