New Star acquires prime properties in Japan

New Star has acquired the ‘Rokubancho’ Building and the ‘Uchikanda’ building in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, and the ‘Nippo Honmachi’ building in Osaka for the New Star International Property Fund.

The Rokubancho property is a newly-refurbished prime seven-storey office building let to the cultural arm of the Spanish government on a fixed 10-year lease from 2007. The property is strategically located in Tokyo’s central business district and is easily accessible by train.

The Uchikanda building is an eight-storey prime property located in the Chiyoda Ward of Tokyo. The property is located a short walk away from the major Otemachi train station. The property is currently fully leased to a number of quality office users.

The Honmachi building is an 11-storey prime property located in the business area of Osaka, Japan. The property is subject to multiple tenants and is situated close to Sakaisuji-Honmachi JR station.

All three properties have strong tenants, helping to secure an attractive long-term income for New Star’s investors. There are also various opportunities to add value. The total acquisition price is c. ¥9.2 billion and the blended net operating yield is close to 5.5%.

New Star’s property team is actively seeking further assets to purchase in this region as part of the Asia Pacific component of the New Star International Property Fund. In the last three months the team has acquired three properties in Japan (Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kokura), two in Australia (Sydney) and one in Singapore whilst in Europe it has acquired two properties in Germany (Berlin and Munich) and one in the Netherlands (Amsterdam).

Stuart Webster, New Star’s head of global property, says: “These are exciting acquisitions for New Star. The Japanese market offers compelling opportunities enabling us to buy prime products such as these with strong income streams at attractive yields with good potential for us to add value.

“The combination of these assets plus the recent acquisitions elsewhere in Asia and Europe provide investors with exposure to a quality, diversified portfolio in what is considered by many to be a more stable asset class in these volatile times. Our Asian acquisition team led by Simon Tyrrell is presently working to close the next acquisition, which will be a prime retail asset in Japan, whilst our European team is working towards signing on a prime Paris office building.”