Japan lures record foreign investment in 2016

ASIAN REVIEW

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Foreign direct investment to Japan for fiscal 2016 topped 3 trillion yen ($26.9 billion) for the first time ever, thanks mainly to an increasing number of takeovers of domestic businesses by overseas investment funds.

Japanese operations of foreign establishments have also become keen to reinvest what they earn into Japan.

According to balance of payments data released by the Ministry of Finance, foreign investment to Japan during the fiscal year through this past March was double the previous year's figure at 3.01 trillion yen. It beat the most recent record of 2.72 trillion yen posted in fiscal 2007 and is the highest since comparable data became available in fiscal 1996.

Major deals during the period included Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, buying electronics giant Sharp, and purchases of Hitachi Koki and Calsonic Kansei by a special-purposed vehicle under U.S. investment company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

The government aims to expand the country's foreign investment balance to 35 trillion yen in 2020 -- almost twice the 2012 balance of 19.2 trillion yen. As of the end of December, the balance stood at 27.8 trillion yen.

(ASIAN REVIEW)