Rava Grabs Pair of Blackstone Managing Directors to Lead Growing Japan Business

Within a few months of closing on what by some measures was Japan’s largest real estate deal of 2024, Rava Partners has hired a pair of managing directors from Blackstone’s Tokyo-based business to lead its growing team in the country, Mingtiandi can reveal.

Jeremy Bleackley, who has been leading acquisitions for Blackstone in Japan and Wataru Goto, who has been looking after the asset management side of the business, have agreed to join the real estate unit of Hillhouse Investment Management as co-heads of its Japan operation, market sources told Mingtiandi, confirming earlier reporting by Reuters.

The hires come after Hillhouse and Rava, together with partner Daiwa Securities Group, in November closed on a JPY 169 billion (then $1.13 billion) acquisition of Japanese developer Samty Holdings, with plans to work together with the company’s management to transform it into a residential real estate investment platform. With Hillhouse having been investing in Japan for some time, Rava is understood to now be in the process of establishing its business in the country.

With the deal giving Rava and its partners control over a $3.5 billion real estate portfolio, the Singapore-based fund manager is understood to see opportunities for further expansion under its platform investment approach with further acquisitions similar to the Samty deal among potential future steps.

Tokyo Experience

Bleackley is joining Rava Partners after nearly four years with Blackstone. Before joining the US private equity giant he spent nearly eight years with PGIM Real Estate where he was a managing director responsible for originating and executing transactions across Japan and Korea.

Having started his career as a solicitor in London focusing on capital markets, Bleackley graduated from the University of Bristol in the UK and achieved a masters in real estate from the University of Cambridge.

The investment veteran also has experience as both chief operating officer and director with Wells Fargo Securities in Hong Kong and with investment banks JP Morgan and Bear Stearns in Tokyo.

Wataru Goto joined Blackstone in 2010 and has been involved in evaluating real estate investments in across multiple property types in Japan while also managing the company’s property investments in the country, according to Blackstone’s website.

Before joining Blackstone, the graduate of Japan’s Aoyama Gakuin University was an associate with the Real Estate Private Equity group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was involved in acquisitions, restructuring and portfolio management.

Scheduling for the two executives to start their new roles was not available. Contacted by Mingtiandi, Rava Partners representatives declined to comment.

Japan in Vogue

Japan recorded $36.3 billion in real estate investment transactions last year according to JLL, marking a 48 percent increase from 2023 levels and ranking the country among Asia Pacific’s fastest growing property markets.

With Japan’s low interest rates and stable market conditions, institutional real estate investors have been directing more attention to the country, with KKR currently wrapping up a real estate-focused buyout of Fuji Soft which values the company at $4 billion after battling Bain Capital for the software systems provider.

In January, Canada’s Brookfield boosted its bets on the Japan market with the acquisition of Tokyo’s Meguro Gajoen complex and a logistics project in the Nagoya area with the pair of investments valued at $1.6 billion.

Led by head of Japan real estate Daisuke Kitta, Blackstone’s property team has continued to raise its exposure to Asia’s second largest economy, including signing a deal in December to acquire the Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho in Chiyoda ward for $2.6 billion. During that same month the company picked up a pair of Japanese hotels in separate deals.

Goldman Sachs has also been ramping up its Japan investments, including acquiring a set of apartments in the southern city of Fukuoka in November for JPY 12.7 billion.