Starting news article english 15 April 2013

Clifford Chance advises MGPA on purchase of two office buildings in Tokyo

Tokyo: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised MGPA on behalf of  MGPA Asien Spezialfonds, which targets German-speaking institutional investors on two property investments in Japan. The investments comprise the acquisition of two Tokyo office buildings, South Shin Otsuka building in Otsuka and Shinjuku TX building in Shinjuku. These transactions are MGPA Asien Spezialfonds first investments in Japan with both transactions closing in March. The fund is launched on the administration platform of the German investment company Universal-Investment.

"We're delighted to have assisted MGPA on these transactions," said Tokyo partner Leng-Fong Lai. "We are seeing an uptick in foreign investor interest in the Japanese real estate investments. This looks to continue as the aggressive monetary easing policy of the Japanese government is having a very positive impact on the market and making Japanese real estate assets particularly attractive."

The Tokyo team was led by Tokyo partners Eiichi Kanda and Leng-Fong Lai, supported by partner Miho Mizuguchi, counsel Kenji Miyagawa, Yusuke Abe, Satoshi Nomura, Aaron Comerford and associates Makiko Watanabe, Shusuke Fukunaga, Yo Suzuki, Shusuke Watanabe, Yoko Matsumura, Suguru Kimura and Yoko Kumegawa. The Frankfurt team was led by partners Marco Simonis and Sven Zeller and senior associates Alexandra Uhl and Stefan Koch. Additional support on the offshore aspects of the transaction was provided by Singapore partner Raymond Tong with assistance from counsel Wern Sern Bin and associate Si Wei Chua.

MGPA is a private equity real estate investment company focused on investments in Asia Pacific and Europe, with approximately US$12billion in assets under management. Universal-Investment is the investment company (KAG) for MGPA Asien Spezialfonds, and provides the regulated German fund structures for the Spezialfonds, securing compliance with supervisory and regulatory requirements at investor and fund level. With more than €162 billion Assets under Administration, Universal-Investment is the largest independent investment company in German-speaking Europe.