EQT Appoints Former KKR J-REIT Exec to Lead Japan Real Estate Business

Three years after spending $7.5 billion to buy a presence in Asia Pacific’s real estate investment universe, Swedish private equity player EQT has named a new head for its Japan property business.

The Stockholm-based investment manager hired Michio Matsumoto, formerly a senior executive with KKR’s KJR Management unit as head of Japan real estate, aiming to grow its footprint in the country, according to a recent statement.

The country (Japan) is one of our most important investment markets in Asia and our goal is to continue to invest a large percentage of our capital into the Japanese real estate market,” Mark Fogle, partner and Asia Pacific head of EQT Real Estate said. “Our focus will remain on high-conviction sectors such as logistics, hotel, office and residential in major cities across the country where we can implement our thematic strategies and use our sector capabilities to create value for our investors.”

Having bought its way into Japan’s property market in January of 2022 through the acquisition of shed developer and investment manager Bear Logi, EQT followed up just two months later with a deal to merge Baring Private Equity Asia into its EQT Exeter real estate business in a €6.8 billion (then $7.5 billion) cash-and-stock deal.

KKR, CBRE IM and Deutsche

Based in Tokyo, Matsumoto will be responsible for leading EQT’s real estate investment strategy and operations in Japan, the company said, aiming to expand a portfolio which already includes logistics, office, residential, and hotel assets in Japanese cities including Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto.

“His (Matsumoto’s) deep knowledge of Japan’s real estate market, strong leadership, and trusted reputation in the industry make him the ideal person to lead our real estate efforts in Japan,” said Tadashi Maruoka, chairman of EQT Japan. “As we continue to grow our footprint in this key market, his expertise will be instrumental in identifying compelling opportunities and building value for our stakeholders.”

With more than 30 years of experience in Japan’s real estate industry, Matsumoto served from October 2023 through February of this year, as executive officer and head of investments at KJR Management, which through its role as asset manager for Tokyo-listed REITs Japan Metropolitan Fund Investment Corporation and Industrial & Infrastructure Fund Investment Corporation, ranks as the largest manager of listed real estate investment trusts in Japan.

Under Matsumoto’s leadership the KJR team acquired logistics, residential, office, and hotel sectors, including picking up a Nagoya office building in November for JPY 9.7 billion (then $64 million).

Before joining KJR Management Matsumoto spent more than a decade with CBRE Investment Management (formerly CBRE Global Investors), where he rose to the rank of senior director while serving as head of commercial-residential and head of acquisitions.

The graduate of the University of Rochester in the United State and the University of Tokyo also has previous experience with the real estate division of Deutsche Bank and with Japanese construction giant Kajima Corporation.

Top Priority Market

After running its property fund business as EQT Exeter for four years, following its $1.87 billion acquisition of US-based Exeter Property Group in 2021, EQT renamed the business as EQT Real Estate in January of this year.

In Asia, the firm, which has euros 269 billion ($306 billion) in total assets under management across its private equity and property strategies, has kept a low profile since its BPEA acquisition, announcing only a few transactions.

During last year EQT agreed to buy out Singapore-based real estate portal PropertyGuru in a $1.1 billion deal, through its private equity strategy.

In a 2023 interview, EQT chief executive Christian Sinding said the company would allocate as much as $3 billion to Japan under its private equity strategy, calling the country a “top priority.”