Keizo Kaneko

Keizo Kaneko is a Managing Director at New Horizon Capital, the Tokyo-based private equity firm he joined in November 2017. A Certified Public Accountant, he began his career in 1987 at one of Japan's largest accounting firms, where he worked on corporate audits — giving him a financial-control and diligence background that is central to his role in a turnaround-oriented PE house.

He subsequently moved into investment banking, advising on M&A transactions. From 1990 he worked as an M&A advisor in the Investment Banking group at Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd., and later in the Investment Banking Division at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co., Ltd. This roughly two-decade run across audit and sell-side/buy-side M&A advisory shaped his deal-execution and corporate-finance expertise.

Since joining New Horizon Capital, Kaneko has served as a director and statutory auditor (corporate governance/oversight roles) for several of the firm's investee companies — consistent with NHC's hands-on, operationally engaged ownership model. He holds a degree from the Faculty of Science at Chiba University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

New Horizon Capital itself traces to 2002 (originating from Phoenix Capital, with the current entity spun off around 2006) and has completed more than 100 business investments. The firm manages a series of funds (New Horizon I–IV, plus thematic vehicles such as a Post-Covid Recovery fund) and positions itself as "a catalyst for industrial restructuring in Japan."

• Invests through control/buyout private equity, not venture seed rounds — the core deal types are business succession (owner-operator handover), corporate revitalization/turnaround, and growth support, plus non-core carve-outs from larger corporates.
• Targets established Japanese small- and mid-market companies across diversified, often unglamorous "real economy" sectors (industrials, housing/construction, food & services, recycling/biomass).
• Firm thesis, in its own words: to "reach new horizons with meaningful investments" and to "create change and growth as a catalyst for industrial restructuring in Japan," acting as an active business partner beyond capital provision.
• Kaneko's CPA + M&A-advisory background means his lens skews toward financial rigor, governance, and execution — diligence quality, restructuring feasibility, and post-deal oversight (he sits on investee boards as director/auditor).
• Sector-agnostic but operationally intensive: the firm prefers businesses with latent potential that can be unlocked through hands-on operational improvement rather than purely financial engineering.