Bain Capital says it plans to strengthen its real estate team in Japan, becoming the latest global investment firm to take advantage of opportunities in the country’s real estate market.
The Boston-based company needs more staff with expertise to close deals and help manage or sell properties of Japanese companies in which it invests, said co-managing partner David Gross. There are three people working on Bain’s real estate team in Japan, and that could increase to six to 10 next year, he said.
“Japan is an interesting market because companies still own a lot of real estate,” Gross said in an interview in Tokyo. Bain is also interested in the country’s hospitality, data center and residential opportunities, he added.
Global investors, including activist funds, are increasingly seeing hidden value in Japanese companies that own properties that can be sold. Gross highlighted Bain’s sale of underutilized real estate from Showa Aircraft Industry, an aircraft parts manufacturer it bought four years ago.
“There are a number of deals in our pipeline that are very similar to that,” he said.
After nearly two decades focusing on private equity buyouts in Japan, Bain last year hired former Goldman Sachs Group Managing Director Man Kinoshita as a partner in its special situations group to oversee real estate work in the country and elsewhere in Asia.
Gross, who was promoted to co-head of Bain earlier this year, said he wants to scale up its lending, real estate and insurance businesses globally to boost profits. “There are opportunities to double or triple these activities,” he said.
Earlier in his career, Gross helped build Bain’s business in Asia, opening its Tokyo office in 2006.
