Hong Kong asset manager turns his attention to buying short-stay apartments in Japan
Chairman Timothy Shen says Look’s Asset Management plans to own at least 50 buildings in the country by 2020
While many Chinese investors have looked to acquire Japanese office buildings and apartments as the yen has weakened, including conglomerate Anbang Insurance Group, which is in talks to buy 200 residential properties from Blackstone Group for US$2.3 billion, Hong Kong-based Look’s Asset Management is taking a different approach.
Having sensed there are major opportunities in Japan due to a lack of hotel rooms amid a tourism boom in the country, the fund house aims to buy dozens of Japanese residential buildings and refurbish them into short-stay apartments.
Chairman Timothy Shen Ka-yip, a veteran investor with more than 20 years of experience in accounting, equity research and corporate finance and who has held senior roles in a number of Hong Kong- and London-listed companies, bought Look’s in 2016 from founder Andrew Look, a well-known equity analyst.
Shen said Japan’s abundance of travel destinations, further visa loosening and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic would help secure a flourishing tourism industry in coming years and the firm planned to own at least 50 buildings by 2020.
Why have you chosen to invest in Japan’s short-stay sector?
