BNPP AM Alts Sells 49% Stake in Amazon Japan Shed to Dai-ichi Life-Marubeni Fund

BNP Paribas Asset Management Alts has sold a 49 percent interest in an Amazon-leased warehouse north of Tokyo to a fund led by Japan’s Dai-ichi Life, with the French firm retaining a same-sized stake in the property.

Developer ESR continues to hold the remaining 2 percent interest in the 1.5 million square foot (140,000 square metre) facility known as ESR Kuki, BNPP AM Alts said Tuesday in a release. A joint venture of ESR and BNPP AM Alts precursor AXA IM Alts had acquired the 2017-built shed in August 2020 for JPY 39 billion (then $368 million).

Financial terms of the deal weren’t provided. BNPP AM Alts said logistics remains a core-conviction asset class for the firm following the sell-down, globally and in Japan, as the business seeks opportunities to acquire and develop modern, well-located facilities.

“We continue to capitalise on supportive market dynamics to expand our exposure to the country’s best-performing asset classes, to pursue the continued growth and diversification of our portfolio, as well as to strengthen our market position in Japan,” said Antoine Mesnage, head of Asia Pacific at BNPP AM Alts.

Fully Leased in Saitama

In 2020, AXA IM Alts acquired an indirect 75.6 percent stake in the four-storey ESR Kuki through an ESR-managed vehicle, later building a direct 98 percent stake in 2024, according to Tuesday’s announcement.

Located in the northeastern corner of Saitama prefecture, ESR Kuki is 100 percent leased to customers including e-commerce titan Amazon. The asset offers three floors of double-ramp access and employee amenities including a lounge and children’s day care centre.

The shed sits just 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from the Kuki interchange of the Tohoku Expressway, enabling service to customers in Tokyo’s city centre in under an hour, BNPP AM Alts said. The nearby Kuki railway station provides a link to domestic and international shipping routes.

Dai-ichi Life, Japan’s second-largest life insurer, joined with Tokyo-based conglomerate Marubeni last July to launch a JPY 400 billion real estate investment fund, aiming to tap rising interest in property strategies among domestic institutions.

The new fund was announced on the same day that the two firms completed the integration of their domestic real estate businesses into a new 50:50 joint venture, Dai-ichi Life Marubeni Real Estate, with a goal “to provide a wide range of high-quality investment opportunities to meet the increasing real estate investment and management needs of individuals and pension funds”.

Euro Alternatives Flagship

In August 2024, AXA entered talks to sell AXA Investment Managers to French financial services giant BNP Paribas for a total consideration of €5.4 billion ($5.8 billion), with the companies completing the deal in July 2025.

The unified BNPP AM Alts manages €300 billion ($357.2 billion) across real estate, infrastructure, alternative credit and private equity strategies, making it Europe’s largest alternative investment platform.

AXA IM Alts made a string of investments in Japan in recent years, including the $44 million purchase of a 183-key hotel in Kyoto in 2024 and the acquisitions of two senior housing properties totaling 331 rooms in the northern island of Hokkaido and a portfolio of 33 apartment assets across Tokyo, Greater Osaka and Nagoya in 2023.

Those deals followed the 2022 purchases of a 800-bed portfolio of nursing homes in Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi, a 1,482-unit residential portfolio in Greater Tokyo and Osaka, four student housing properties near universities in Greater Tokyo, as well as a pair of Tokyo apartment buildings. 

Last year the firm entered the Japanese retail market with the acquisition of a fully let retail-led asset measuring 2,400 square metres in central Tokyo’s Omotesando-Harajuku fashion district.