Allianz’s PIMCO Prime Appoints Hiroyuki Mochizuki as Head of Japan

PIMCO Prime Real Estate has become the latest fund manager to add to its Japan team with the hiring of Hiroyuki Mochizuki as country head.

Mochizuki brings more than 20 years of professional experience in the real estate industry in Japan and the US to PIMCO Prime, a global real estate investor and manager under both US finance giant Pacific Investment Management Company and its PIMCO Europe GmbH unit.

He succeeds Daisuke Noguchi, who served as head of Japan for the company then known as Allianz Real Estate until December 2022 before joining regional apartment specialist Weave Living last April. Allianz Real Estate rebranded as PIMCO Prime Real Estate in March of last year.

Mochizuki’s appointment took effect on the first of this month. He will be based in Tokyo and report to Scott Kim, PIMCO Prime’s head of Asia Pacific.

Investment Lull

Mochizuki most recently served as alternative investment director at Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund.

Before joining GPIF, he spent 17 years at Mitsui Fudosan, where he held roles in Japan (as project manager in the solution service group) and in the US (as acquisition director).

Mochizuki is bilingual in English and Japanese and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Osaka University.

Focusing on the core and core-plus segments of the market and part of the PIMCO real estate platform, PIMCO Prime manages the Allianz Group’s real estate mandate, while operating separately from PIMCO.

Team-Building Exercises

PIMCO Prime’s people move took place the same week that fellow German investor Patrizia named Masami Takizawa and Thomas Hirschvogel as co-heads of Japan.

In their joint role, Takizawa and Hirschvogel will oversee Patrizia’s JPY 150 billion ($990 million) Japan investment platform and the operations of the Tokyo office, which has more than 10 staff across transactions, capital markets and asset management.

The Augsburg-based firm aims to grow its assets under management in Japan to JPY 300 billion by 2027 through its flagship real estate and infrastructure strategies.

NYSE-listed Ares Management announced in December that it planned to establish an office in Japan this year, as the California firm looks to explore real estate and buyout opportunities in the country.