Established in 1995, Kenedix, Inc., Japan’s largest independent real estate asset management company is building on its reputation as a key player within the region.
The company manages 546 properties with a value of JPY 2.0 trillion (USD 18.9 billion), five Japan Real Estate Investment Trusts (J-REITs) and over fifty private funds.
Seeing industry growth across the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region, the company established its Singaporean unit, Kenedix Asia in 2015 to reach out to, and win business, within the ASEAN real estate fund community.
“It was important for us to have a presence in Singapore as a great deal of business in the region goes through Singapore,” says Takahiro Uchida, Executive Officer and Head of Business Development of Kenedix, Inc.
“Today, we are actively facilitating inbound investments from Singapore to Japan, sourcing ASEAN investment opportunities for Japanese investors and expanding our overseas operations from our Singapore hub.”
In the last three years, the company has made significant investments across the region. In March 2017, Kenedix Asia acquired fifteen per cent units of ‘AmanahRaya REIT’,a top-ten listed Malaysian REIT, and forty nine per cent of ‘AmanahRaya-Kenedix REIT Managers’.
“We acquired the ‘Vista Tower’, a sixty three floor Grade-A office building inthe CBD of Kuala Lumpur in September 2017”, says Uchida. “We then solved investment structural issues andsold the property to AmanahRaya REIT in January of this year to increase our REIT and diversify our portfolio of assets under management”.
In 2015, Kenedix Asia acquired the ‘V-Tower’ property close to the Japanese Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam. The following year, the company bought a twenty percent stake in ‘AIRA Property’, the real estate development arm of Thailand Stock Exchange listed financial group, AIRA Capital.
“AIRA Capital is interested in expanding into REIT’s in Thailand so this was an ideal partnership for us to undertake,” says Uchida.
As the property sector gains traction across the region, Kenedix Inc. intends to continue to explore diversified investment opportunities.
“We want to be the intermediary between investors and investments in ASEAN”, says Uchida. “We are fully committed to serving investors by tailoring our investment proposals to fit each individual’s needs and risk allowances”.
