SEB Asset Management has sold the 7-storey Hamamatsucho Center Building in Tokyo and the Shin Osaka Center Building in Osaka to a local REIT after a holding period of 8 years.

This is the second transaction by SEB Asset Management in Japan in recent weeks - the Asian WealthTimes reported here on an earlier transaction.

The new owner's successful bid was for the equivalent of JPY 8.5 billion in total. The transfer of ownership (closing) for the SEB ImmoInvest portfolio properties is expected to be completed in September 2015.

The acquisition of these two properties at the beginning of 2007 marked SEB Asset Management's entry onto the Japanese market. Since then, it has successfully driven forward its activities in Japan for its various institutional funds and mandates, with nine investments overall. These include the Alpha One hotel property in Yokohama and the mixed-use Abeno Nini building in Osaka. SEB Asset Management has invested in excess of EUR 2.2 billion overall in the Asia-Pacific region since 2006.

The approximately 3,050 sqm Hamamatsucho Center Building is situated in the direct vicinity of Daimon and Hamamatsucho metro stations in Minatoku, one of the Japanese capital's five main wards, and is fully let. SEB Asset Management successfully negotiated a number of lease extensions before the property was sold. The tenant roster currently comprises eight companies from a wide range of sectors. SEB Asset Management took advantage of the ideal opportunity for an exit resulting from the optimised letting situation and generated attractive proceeds from the sale for investors.

The second multi-tenant building has total rental space of approximately 6,140 sqm and is situated in Shin Osaka, a good office location in Japan's third city, Osaka, offering excellent road and rail links. The building is within easy walking distance of several subway stations and is only a few minutes away from the station serving the high-speed Shinkansen rail line linking Tokyo and Osaka. It has an attractive tenant mix, with retail businesses on the ground floor and a number of office tenants on the upper storeys, and is almost fully let.

“The fund management decided to sell the properties due to the current demand situation in Japan and the age of the buildings”, said Choy-Soon Chua, the SEB Investment GmbH managing director responsible for SEB Asset Management's Asia business. “Japan nevertheless remains a key target market. We are currently assessing further potential investments for our institutional investors. In addition, we have identified acquisition opportunities in Singapore and Australia.”