CVC plans sale of Japan’s FineToday after scrapped IPO, sources say

Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is seeking a sale of FineToday Holdings, the Japanese personal-care company behind the Tsubaki shampoo brand, after shelving plans to list it in Tokyo, said four sources with knowledge of the matter.

FineToday, which counts China as its second-biggest market, postponed its Tokyo Stock Exchange initial public ⁠offering (IPO) in October, citing market conditions, according to a company statement. FineToday was expected to debut with a market capitalisation of about 169 billion yen ($1.08 billion) in the postponed ⁠IPO. The company had previously targeted roughly 219 billion yen in a 2024 attempt to go public.

Both valuation outcomes fell short of CVC’s internal expectations, two of the sources said. One of the sources said CVC is now seeking a valuation of over $2 billion, ‍or around ‌14–15 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), for FineToday.

Interest has emerged from global buyout ⁠firms and at least one Chinese strategic ‌investor, one of the sources added, but declined to name any of the interested ‌parties. All the sources declined to be identified as the information is confidential.

CVC and FineToday declined to comment on Wednesday.
The planned sale comes amid renewed strains in Japan–China relations. FineToday noted in its latest preliminary offering document that sales in China and Hong Kong were hit by a consumer backlash against Japanese ‍brands after Japan released treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2023, and warned that it remains exposed to any future geopolitical tensions.

FineToday was created in 2021 after Shiseido Co carved out its personal-care ‌unit and sold it ⁠to ​CVC in a 160 billion yen deal. The Tokyo-based company manufactures and markets haircare, skincare ⁠and deodorant ​products under brands including Tsubaki, Fino, Senka, Uno, Ag Deo24 and Kuyura, according to its official website and IPO filing.

About half of its sales come from overseas markets, with China a key market. In ​the six months ended June 30, 2025, 35.9% of revenue came from China and Hong Kong, while Japan contributed 44.3%, the filing showed.

FineToday posted 107.3 billion yen ($688.66 ⁠million) revenue in 2024 and 56.6 billion yen in ⁠the first half of 2025, with an adjusted EBITDA margin improving to 21.0% from 15.5% a year earlier, according to the filing.