LaSalle Promotes Nick Okumura to Japan CEO, Appoints Itaru Nogami to Manage Fund

LaSalle Investment Management on Wednesday announced the promotion of Kunihiko (Nick) Okumura to succeed Keith Fujii as Japan CEO at the fund management unit of JLL.

In addition, Itaru Nogami will replace Ryota Morioka as fund manager of the firm’s open-ended LaSalle Japan Property Fund. Both appointments take effect on 31 March.

Fujii will continue to serve LaSalle as head of Asia Pacific, while Morioka will depart the firm to pursue other interests, Chicago-based LaSalle said in a release. Yasuo Nakashima has also stepped down as representative director and will depart LaSalle Japan on 1 April, with Okumura taking up the concurrent post.

“These leadership transitions follow a succession planning process spanning several years, during which we worked to develop a robust talent pipeline,” Fujii said. “Okumura san’s and Nogami san’s appointments reflect the depth of LaSalle’s bench strength and the firm’s long-term orientation.”

Still APAC Co-CIO

Okumura joined LaSalle Japan in 2011 and has served as head of acquisitions and asset management. He added the title of co-chief investment officer for LaSalle Asia Pacific in 2021 and will continue to perform that role.

Okumura has completed more than $15 billion in debt and equity transactions across multiple asset classes, LaSalle said. Before joining the firm, he served as principal at Westbrook Partners and senior vice president of the global real estate group at Lehman Brothers, where he executed various types of real estate deals and completed multiple CMBS transactions.

The graduate of Kwansei Gakuin University holds a master’s degree in international studies from the University of Washington.

“I am honoured to be given the opportunity to lead LaSalle Japan and to build on our excellent foundation which Fujii san had strengthened with his leadership in the past few years,” Okumura said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with my talented colleagues, to achieve strong performance for our investors and also to make LaSalle a great place to work.”

Expanding Portfolio

Nogami joined LaSalle as deputy fund manager for LaSalle Japan Property Fund in 2020. He has more than two decades of experience in Japanese direct real estate investments from his time at Aberdeen, Tokio Marine, Manulife and AXA.

The Tokyo Institute of Technology grad takes the reins of a core fund with total assets under management of more than JPY 200 billion ($1.54 billion) in gross asset value.

Late last year, LJPF acquired a mixed-use tower in an upscale Tokyo neighbourhood from Blackstone for close to JPY 13.5 billion ($98 million), adding a 25th publicly known asset to the fund since its inception in 2019.

Departing manager Morioka said in 2021 that his team aimed to nearly double the size of LJPF’s portfolio to JPY 300 billion by the end of 2024, targeting logistics and residential assets in major metro areas.

“I’m looking forward to working with my team to maximise investment returns by expanding our diversified portfolio of high-quality, stable core assets in line with our existing strategy,” Nogami said.