Japan residential firm attracts rival bid after Blackstone approach

The Guernsey-registered company’s board said it received a separate approach from an anonymous third party, which may or may not lead to an offer.

Blackstone recently made an offer to buy the closed-end Japanese residential property specialist.

The investment manager’s offer valued the company at £152.6m (€215.5m).

JRIC’s 90,000sqm portfolio is mainly located in Tokyo’s wards.

Around 25% of its assets are in the city’s five central wards, with a further 30% in Tokyo’s 23 wards.

The company also has assets in Osaka and Nagoya.

In an August fact sheet, the company said signs of rent growth were emerging, with rents in Tokyo’s 23 wards increasing last year by 0.4%, the first year-on-year increase since the financial crisis.

“Increased demand and a general scarcity of investment properties is compressing yields and putting upward pressure on asset prices,” the company said.

According to JRIC, the price per square metre of new condominiums in Tokyo has risen 9% year on year.