Schroders has continued the expansion of its real estate division, with the establishment of a Japan property investment operation last month, according to company representatives. The UK investment management firm has appointed former JP Morgan Asset Management executive Keisuke Kusano as its head of real estate for Japan, with Kusano joining the company late last month where he now reports locally to Schroders’s country head Noriaki Kurose and functionally to Allan Lee, head of real estate for Asia ex-China at the London-based firm. Schroders has deep ties with Japan, having opened an office in Tokyo in 1974.
The announcement by Schroders, came just days after the firm announced the completion of its acquisition of Wisteria Mall in Singapore. The firm’s Pamfleet Real Estate Fund III picked up the 2018-vintage mall, which forms the retail podium below the Wisteria condo complex in the Yishun area, for S$208 million ($154.8 million). To acquire a high-quality suburban retail property that offers resilient income and growth potential as the Singapore retail market continues to recover on the back of a better economic outlook. In 2020, the firm purchased Hong Kong’s Cityplaza One office tower in a consortium with local firm Gaw Capital and Canada’s Manulife for $1.27 billion.