Japan's Orix plans $1 billion U.S. private equity deals - source

By Emi Emoto

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese financial services company Orix Corp (8591.T) plans to spend $1 billion (690 million pounds) over three-to-five years on acquisitions via a private equity firm it has set up in the United States, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The expansion of Orix's existing private equity business outside Japan comes as the parent - valued at nearly $20 billion by market value - pursues aggressive diversification of operations at home and overseas to secure steady growth.

An Orix spokesman confirmed the company has set up a private equity company in the United States but declined to comment on investments or any other details.

In the U.S. move, Orix has set up IX Capital Partners as a private equity venture in New York and will target deals worth $50 million to $150 million on an equity basis, said the person with direct knowledge of the latter, who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

On an enterprise basis - meaning equity plus debt - the new venture will target deals worth $200 million to $300 million, the person said. Yoshiteru Suzuki, former president of Japanese operations at private equity house Cerberus Capital, has been appointed chief executive of IX Capital, he said.

IX Capital has already made its first acquisition, the person familiar with the matter said, buying RoadSafe Traffic Systems Inc, a Chicago-based provider of traffic safety services and products. The person didn't disclose the value of that deal.

As part of its diversification drive, Orix last year teamed up with French construction company Vinci SA (SGEF.PA) to win the right to operate Japan's Kansai International Airport near Osaka over the next 44 years, a deal worth $18 billion.

In 2013, it bought Dutch investment manager Robeco for about 1.9 billion euros ($2.15 billion), its biggest overseas deal so far.

($1 = 0.8846 euros)

(Reporting by Emi Emoto; Writing by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)