Bush's (and Bin Laden's) Carlyle Group Takes Daiei Transport

[Charles Jannuzi]

Wow, if this doesn't position Bush's (and the Bin Laden's) Carlyle Group to
take advantage of the upcoming postal services liberalization in Japan, I
don't know what does. It will also help them to haul their own loot around
among their banks more securely. No wonder Pres. Bush so warmly backed
Koizumi's calls for proceeding with postal services liberalization. It's a
CAPITAL idea! Carlyle Group are also moving into telecoms here, things like
broadband services.

Charles Jannuzi
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http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nb20020109a2.htm

Daiei to sell transport unit to U.S. investment firm

Troubled supermarket chain operator Daiei Inc. said Tuesday it will sell its
secure-transportation subsidiary to the Carlyle Group, a major U.S. private
equity investment company, for roughly 3.5 billion yen in February to reduce
group interest-bearing debts.
The acquisition of A.S.S. will mark the first major investment in Japan for
the Carlyle Group. A.S.S. provides secure transportation of cash receipts
for Daiei group restaurants and handles building management.

Daiei will post about 2.6 billion yen in proceeds on a consolidated basis
from the sale of 10,000 A.S.S. Inc. shares held by Daiei and another
subsidiary, a Daiei spokesman said.

Daiei and the Carlyle Group plan to sign a contract in late January before
the shares are transferred in early February, the spokesman said.

The acquisition will be conducted as a management-led buyout, after which
the Carlyle Group will hold a 90 percent stake, the Daiei spokesman said,
adding that Daiei and the current management of A.S.S. will each hold a 5
percent stake in the company.

A.S.S. posted 15.4 billion yen in sales in the year ended last February. It
had about 2,000 employees as of late August last year.

The Carlyle Group reportedly sees growth potential in the security transport
business in Japan, where demand is being fueled by a growing number of banks
that contract for the services. The group hopes to support the current
management team at A.S.S. while bringing in expertise from overseas.

The Carlyle Group, headquartered in Washington, is a global firm that had
$12.5 billion in managed assets as of late September last year.

[Jannuzi: that's more like about 20 billion USD now that energy and defense
are paying off so nicely].