Apollo’s 2024 carve-out of Panasonic Automotive Systems shows how operational partnership can reposition a world-class business for long-term global competitiveness.

A Shifting Landscape

Japan’s corporate landscape is changing. Companies across industries are rethinking how they allocate capital, structure their portfolios, and compete on a world stage. Spin-offs and carve-outs, once rare, have become accepted tools for unlocking value and sharpening focus. 

The Opportunity

Panasonic Holdings is one of Japan’s most respected global companies. As the company took stock of its portfolio, its automotive systems business stood out: an operation with real global potential, but one that would benefit from dedicated ownership and the kind of focus that’s hard to sustain inside a large conglomerate.  

Panasonic wanted a partner who could handle a complex global transaction and preserve what made the business valuable — its leadership, customer relationships and institutional knowledge. 

Enter: Apollo 

In 2024, Apollo funds acquired an 80% stake in Panasonic Automotive Systems, with Panasonic Holdings retaining 20%.  The deal was the largest sponsor-led corporate carve-out in Japan by revenue, spanning 20 subsidiaries across more than 20 countries, with roughly $8 billion in revenue.

Apollo’s experience in automotive and its strong understanding of Japan’s business culture meant it could move quickly while navigating long-standing relationships across the automotive ecosystem and preserving strategic continuity.

“Focused ownership can unlock the next phase of growth for world-class Japanese businesses. Our role is to partner with management to translate strategic ambition into operational execution.” 

Tetsuji Okamoto, Partner 

Building a Global Leader

As a standalone company, Panasonic Automotive has set a clear goal: become the global number one in integrated cockpit systems and advanced in-vehicle solutions.

CEO Masashi Nagayasu noted the partnership with Apollo has helped change how the company operates with faster decisions, sharper priorities and greater accountability. That shift in discipline mirrors a broader change in how the industry thinks about the car itself: less about raw driving performance, more about redesigning mobility that strives to enhance the experience inside the cabin through focus on comfort, personalization and technology. 

The path forward has two phases: 

• The first is about getting the foundation right. In the period following separation, the company has been streamlining operations, investing in technology, and improving EBITDA minus capex — a key performance indicator for the business. Being standalone forces clarity: decisions get made faster, and ownership of outcomes is unambiguous.
• The second phase is growth. With a leaner cost structure and stronger operational discipline, Panasonic Automotive is going after new business, with the goal of becoming an integral supplier to all original equipment manufacturers in Japan. The goal isn't short-term margin expansion. It's building something durable.

Early signs are positive. Margins are improving, and new order momentum is building across a wider group of Japanese manufacturers.

The company will soon operate under a new name, Mobitera — a deliberate step underscoring that it is no longer a division of something larger, but it has its own identity, strategy and ambitions.

Apollo’s Commitment to Japan

Panasonic Automotive is an example of Apollo’s consistent approach in Japan in which the firm works with established companies to help them focus, grow and compete more effectively—an approach also reflected in investments like ALTEMIRA and MAFTEC.  

Japan’s corporate landscape continues to evolve. For companies thinking about what’s next for their portfolios, the experience with Panasonic Automotive offers an example of what that kind of partnership can look like.