Aetos Japan said on Friday it had rehired Minoru Machida, naming him managing director and senior executive.
Machida previously worked at Aetos Japan from 2001 to 2005 as managing director.
“The Japanese real estate market is showing signs of recovery after a prolonged period of decline,” Machida said in a statement.
Aetos Japan was established in 2001 as a subsidiary of Aetos Capital Real Estate, a New York-headquartered investment group, to source, execute and management investments. Aetos Capital Real Estate has sponsored four funds with a combined worth of $3.8 billion, focused on real estate investments in Asia.
Over the past nine years, Machida has held a variety of investment-related roles in the Japanese and Asian real estate markets, including serving as managing director, Japan at Warburg Pincus where he was responsible for investments in real estate companies in addition to asset level investments.
Machida’s role will involve supporting the Aetos Capital Real Estate funds with sourcing and executing deals in Japan.
“The Japanese property market offers potential for significant returns and, over recent months, has shown positive signs of growth,” said Scott Kelley, founder and chief executive of Aetos Japan and Aetos Capital Real Estate.
Prior to initially joining Aetos Japan in 2001, Machida was executive vice-president at Lone Star Japan Acquisitions where he headed the deal origination team that sourced and executed many large transactions and built the foundations of Lone Star’s business in Japan.
Earlier in his career, Machida spent 13 years at Shimizu Corporation, primarily working on real estate development projects and corporate strategy.
He holds an MBA from the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina.
The move comes as Tokyo is seeing a boom in new housing, with sale prices at their highest for two decades, according to Deutsche Bank¹s quarterly report on Japanese real estate released on Friday.
Leasing markets are strong across all three commercial sectors - including office, retail, and logistics - but the extent of recovery is inconsistent, the report said.
The office sector is showing signs of recovery in all cities across the country and the logistics market looks poised to absorb the current supply surge, but the retail market will be hit by tax increases later this year.
