Tokyo staffing firm with ¥1B revenue, strong foreign-client niche

What is for sale

This is a Tokyo-based staffing company that dispatches sales and customer support personnel, mainly to startups and foreign-owned companies. It takes a deep-account approach rather than spreading across many clients, with one client reportedly over 80% reliant on its dispatched staff, and has grown revenue by double digits every year. The owner is selling due to a strategic review and wants a quick sale, while hoping to stay on as manager after the sale.

Because this is a share sale, the buyer acquires the company itself, so its lease, licences, bank account and contracts transfer automatically rather than needing to be reapplied for.

What is included

• The operating company itself (shares)
• Existing client contracts and relationships
• Bilingual staff able to serve foreign clients
• Organisational know-how in sales and legal matters
• Formalised operating processes designed to reduce reliance on any one person
• Management team with long staffing-industry experience

Strengths (as the seller states them)

• Deep, concentrated account strategy rather than broad client spread, with over 80% staffing share at one key client
• Double-digit annual revenue growth every year
• In-house bilingual staff able to serve foreign-owned clients
• Operations have been formalised to reduce key-person dependency, aiding a smooth handover

Wrinkles a careful buyer would ask about

• Top 15 clients make up about 90% of revenue, so losing one could significantly affect the business
• Buyer should confirm contract terms and renewal likelihood with major clients
• Detailed financials such as net assets, cash balance and interest-bearing debt are hidden until registration
• Seller wants to remain involved as manager after the sale
• Seller has also been shopping the deal through other M&A channels, so timing could change

Paying for it

If you stay overseas. No Japanese bank will lend to a new company whose director lives abroad. The realistic stack is your own cash plus asking the owner to take part of the price over 2 to 3 years. That one question is in every Deal Pack.

If you move to Japan. On a visa that lets you run a business, Japan Finance Corporation lends up to ¥72M at about 1 to 2 percent for exactly this. Once you have a Japanese company, the government pays two-thirds of due diligence and registered-broker costs, up to about ¥8M (round 16 closes 6 Nov 2026). The company's existing bank relationship comes with it.

What this listing says. The broker charges a success fee on a sliding scale starting at 5% (minimum ¥10,000,000) with no upfront or interim fees, but the listing says nothing about any existing debts, loans or personal guarantees transferring with the company.

Full rundown, with the catches: japandealflow.com/money