RHJ International is a holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

 based in Belgium. The company, previously known as Ripplewood Holdings Japan, was a private equity fund

Private equity fund

A private equity fund is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity....

 run by Ripplewood Holdings

Ripplewood Holdings

Ripplewood is an American private equity firm based in New York, New York that focuses on leveraged buyouts, late stage venture, growth capital, management buyouts, leveraged recapitalizations and other illiquid investments....

 prior to being listed on the Euronext

Euronext

Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Amsterdam and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...

. Timothy C. Collins, the founder of Ripplewood, is the company's largest shareholder and a director of the company. Previously, he was CEO of RHJ International. Other than its relationship with Timothy C. Collins, the company is no longer affiliated with Ripplewood Holdings.

It has investments in a number of companies, both public and private, including Asahi Tec Corporation, Honsel International Technologies, Niles Co. Ltd, Seagaia Resort (Japan), SigmaXYZ, Shaklee, Kleinwort Benson

Kleinwort Benson

Kleinwort Benson is a leading Private Bank that offers a wide range of financial services to private and corporate clients from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. The bank has its headquarters on St George Street in Mayfair, and is supported by seven UK regional and two...

, and Kleinwort Benson Investors.

In May 2009, RHJ bid for New GM Europe, the residual European assets of General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

, including Opel

Opel

Adam Opel AG, generally shortened to Opel, is a German automobile company founded by Adam Opel in 1862. Opel has been building automobiles since 1899, and became an Aktiengesellschaft in 1929...

 and Vauxhall

Vauxhall

-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...

 but excluding Saab

Saab Automobile

Saab Automobile AB, better known as Saab , is a Swedish car manufacturer owned by Dutch automobile manufacturer Swedish Automobile NV, formerly Spyker Cars NV. It is the exclusive automobile Royal Warrant holder as appointed by the King of Sweden...

. Subsequently, RHJ stated that it was no longer interested in acquiring Opel/Vauxhall after another company was deemed to be the preferred bidder.

In October 2009, RHJ announced it would acquire Kleinwort Benson from Commerzbank

Commerzbank

Commerzbank AG is the second-largest bank in Germany, after Deutsche Bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main.-Activities:Commerzbank is mainly active in commercial bank, retail banking and mortgaging. It suffered reversals in investment banking in early 2000s and scaled back its Securities unit...

 AG for £225 million. RHJ's current CEO, Leonhard Fischer had worked in senior positions for Dresdner Bank

Dresdner Bank

Dresdner Bank AG was one of Germany's largest banking corporations and was based in Frankfurt. It was acquired by competitor Commerzbank in December 2009.- 19th century :...

 AG, the previous owner of Kleinwort Benson.. Fischer intends to transform RHJ into a financial services company by growing the well-capitalized Kleinwort Benson's private banking

Private banking

Private banking is banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks to private individuals investing sizable assets. The term "private" refers to the customer service being rendered on a more personal basis than in mass-market retail banking, usually via dedicated bank advisers...

 and investment management

Investment management

Investment management is the professional management of various securities and assets in order to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of the investors...

businesses. The transaction was closed on July 1, 2010. Other financial services acquisitions include interests in Arecon, Belvall Capital, and Quirin Bank.