JLL Hires Paul Davis, Shai Greenberg to Lead Japan International Capital Division

JLL has beefed up its Japan capital markets team with the hiring of Paul Davis and Shai Greenberg to serve as co-leads of international capital in the country.

Davis joins the property consultancy from law firm Morrison & Foerster, where he was a partner in the Singapore office, while Greenberg most recently was a senior vice president at Genkai Capital Management in Tokyo. JLL announced the appointments on Wednesday with immediate effect.

In their new roles, Davis and Greenberg will service institutional investors looking to access Japan’s real estate market, as well as consult on complex portfolio transactions and help structure joint ventures and platforms, JLL said in a release. The pair will also provide sector-specific advice on alternatives like data centres and life science assets.

“International investors want greater exposure to Japan’s real estate market given its scale and stability of returns,” said Stuart Crow, CEO of Asia Pacific capital markets at JLL. “The appointment of Paul and Shai is a response to the depth of interest we are seeing from our clients in Japan debt and equity opportunities.”

NYU Alumni

During his 11 years at Morrison & Foerster — including seven in the Tokyo office — Davis advised real estate fund managers, operators and institutional investors on cross-border property deals.

In Japan, Davis provided counsel on inbound and outbound real estate and corporate transactions. The literature graduate of New York University received his JD from Columbia Law School in 2011 and has been a member of the New York state bar.

At Genkai, Greenberg was responsible for cross-border transactions, the structuring, fundraising and management of private debt funds, and the underwriting and execution of private equity real estate investments in the US.

Before joining the Tokyo-based firm in 2017, Greenberg spent more than four years as a senior manager for Cushman & Wakefield in Japan, providing advisory services like new business origination and execution, negotiation and financial analysis.

Greenberg earned a master’s degree in real estate finance and investment from New York University after completing management and East Asian studies at Tel Aviv University.

Hotel Appointments

Also this week, JLL announced two hires in Japan and Australia to bolster the hospitality division’s regional client coverage.

James Abe has joined the agency as managing director and head of investment sales for hotels and hospitality in Japan after leading Westmont’s hotel business in the country, JLL said Thursday in a release. Abe previously worked at Shinsei Bank and at New York-based Queens Capital Partners, a real estate investment and advisory firm he founded.

Meanwhile, former Colliers exec Gus Moors has rejoined JLL as managing director and head of New South Wales investment sales. Based in Sydney, Moors will be responsible for managing JLL’s hotel sales platform in Australia’s most populous state. He had served as chief operating officer for Asia Pacific at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels from 2003 to 2010.