JPMorgan Eyes Japan Real Estate on Bet BOJ Persists With Easing
JPMorgan Eyes Japan Real Estate on Bet BOJ Persists With Easing
(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s alternative asset management unit is eyeing Japanese real estate and infrastructure, betting betting such investments will benefit from the nation’s lingering monetary stimulus even as central banks elsewhere start to tighten.
“Leverage is still very inexpensive in Japan, so you can use a degree of leverage to enhance returns,” said Anton Pil, managing partner of JPMorgan Global Alternatives. “Many foreigners want to get exposure to Japanese real estate because the Bank of Japan is on a different schedule” to other central banks, he said. Pil’s unit, which manages about $130 billion, is also buying other real assets in Japan including solar-power farms and ships.
Borrowing costs in Japan are likely to stay low as Governor Haruhiko Kuroda sticks with his policy of targeting bond yields and expanding the BOJ’s balance sheet to defeat deflation. In contrast, the Federal Reserve has started raising interest rates and the European Central Bank is preparing to pare back its stimulus.
As well as real estate, JPMorgan’s alternatives unit invests in infrastructure, private equity, hedge funds and liquid assets such as exchange-traded funds. Speaking in an interview in Tokyo, Pil said his unit has been an “active” buyer of residential buildings in Tokyo and Osaka. While less than 5 percent of its portfolio is in Japan, that amount is growing, he said.
The key is to not have “significant” leverage, said Pil, adding that he sees about 35 to 50 percent as an appropriate level. “If you go north of that, real estate doesn’t become the driver, but the leverage becomes the driver of your return.”
Alternative assets will become more attractive in the coming years as the Fed sells bonds to reduce its balance sheet, according to Pil.
Investors are seeking non-traditional forms of fixed income that generate cash and also serve as a hedge against inflation, he said. “That’s why both real estate and infrastructure have drawn the attention, especially of Japanese investors.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Gareth Allan in Tokyo at gallan11@bloomberg.net, Katsuyo Kuwako in Tokyo at kkuwako@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward, Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam
©2017 Bloomberg L.P.