The biggest year for overseas buyouts by Japan's companies since at least 2000 was financed without a single yen coming from a massive program Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda set up to spur such deals.
While "multiple" companies are weighing participation in the ¥10 trillion fund, none have signed up, Kenji Okamura, director of the Finance Ministry's development-policy division, said.
Okamura said it is too early to judge the initiative, which ends in eight months. Japanese companies spent $88.7 billion in overseas acquisitions last year, a record in data compiled by Bloomberg that go back 12 years.