U.S. asset manager Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) said on Friday it is acquiring Japan Residential Investment Company (JRIC.L), which owns residential assets in Japan, in a deal worth about $450 million, including debt.
Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, is betting that residential markets in Japan’s major cities will grow further and bring stable returns.
It is paying 152.6 million pounds ($232.23 million) for shares in JRIC, which has total debt of about 26.7 billion yen ($217.60 million), making the deal worth $450 million, Blackstone said in a statement.
Japan Residential Investment, whose shares are traded on London’s AIM, has 59 residential properties worth 46 billion yen in Tokyo as well as Osaka and Nagoya, the nation’s second and third largest cities, Blackstone said.
Blackstone bought Japanese residential assets from General Electric Co’s (GE.N) property unit a year ago in a deal worth more than 190 billion yen.
($1 = 0.6571 pounds)
($1 = 122.7000 yen)
(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)