Ken Aoyama, President and CEO, Samurai Capital
Ken Aoyama founded Samurai Capital in 2009 and serves as president and CEO of the firm. Prior to establishing Samurai Capital, Ken worked at Morgan Stanley from 2001 to 2009, where he headed a core real estate investment platform. His responsibilities included fund structuring, fundraising, acquisitions and asset management. Ken also served as chief investment officer of MS Real Estate Advisors, which was established to manage a private open-ended J-REIT. During his time at Morgan Stanley, he led numerous transactions involving the sourcing, acquisition and asset management of real estate investments for the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund (MSREF).
Before joining Morgan Stanley, Ken worked at Sumitomo Realty from 1993 to 1998, where he managed the development of office and commercial projects in Japan. He advises clients on balancing creative investment solutions with implementation strategies supported by detailed financial analysis.
Ken holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in law from Keio University. He is also an executive committee member of ULI Japan.
Samurai Capital (“Samurai”) is an independent real estate fund and asset management firm based in Tokyo, established in 2009. Many of its professionals have backgrounds in both finance and real estate and are bilingual in Japanese and English, with some also speaking other languages including Chinese and Korean. Approximately two-thirds of the firm’s clients are sovereign wealth funds, institutional investors, family offices and fund managers from overseas, while the remaining clients include Japanese financial institutions and corporates.
Samurai works across a range of asset classes, including office, residential, hotel and logistics properties. The firm has also been a pioneer in unique investment opportunities such as rescue mezzanine financing, single-family residential funds and self-storage funds. ESG considerations are a core focus of the firm’s strategy, and Samurai has established ESG-related funds addressing multiple sustainability themes.
Most recently, Samurai has managed a co-living residential fund and continues to enhance the value of its platform through the establishment of an in-house operational arm, HAUN.
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