Bain Capital has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation in a carve-out transaction from Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation.

The investment is being led by Bain Capital’s Private Equity teams in Asia and North America together with the firm’s Life Sciences team and values the business at approximately JPY 510 billion (USD 3.3 billion).

Founded in 1678, Tanabe Pharma is headquartered in Doshomachi, Osaka, the birthplace of Japan’s pharmaceutical industry. Through the discovery and development of innovative drugs that address unmet medical needs, MTPC focuses on several priority therapeutic areas, including immunology & inflammation, vaccines, central nervous system (CNS), diabetes and metabolic disease. MTPC employs over 5,000 people globally.

As an independent company, Tanabe Pharma will continue to build on its legacy of medical innovation while developing new opportunities for growth through business development, licensing activities, enhanced R&D productivity, commercialization and strategic acquisitions.

“Tanabe Pharma has been delivering innovative medicines to Japanese patients for centuries, and we are proud to partner with MTPC and support its next phase of growth and evolution,” said Masa Suekane, a Partner and Head of Japan Healthcare, Industrials and Financial Services at Bain Capital Private Equity.

“As a standalone, independent company, the Company will benefit from the full support of Bain Capital’s global resources and our healthcare team’s extensive experience driving value creation across the healthcare value chain. We look forward to a collaborative partnership with MTPC and helping build a best-in-class Japanese pharma platform,” added Suekane.

“We believe there are promising signs for growth and untapped opportunities in Japan’s life sciences industry as government and regulators have launched several initiatives to accelerate the development and approval of innovative medicines in the Japanese market. This is an exciting opportunity to leverage our team’s clinical insights and company creation support to build out a scale platform focused on long-term fundamental drug development in areas of significant unmet need to ultimately bring transformative medicines to patients in Japan and globally,” said Ricky Sun, a Partner at Bain Capital Life Sciences.

Bain Capital’s global Healthcare platform has deep experience supporting the growth and innovation of global pharmaceutical companies including Aiolos Bio (now part of GSK), Avistone Pharmaceuticals, Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Cerevel Therapeutics (now part of AbbVie), Kailera Therapeutics, Stada, Tenacia Biotechnology, and Timberlyne Therapeutics.

The firm is also a leading investor and partner to businesses across Japan, with more than 70 investment professionals who have made over 37 investments since establishing its Tokyo office in 2006.