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Aetos Capital preparing to sell Japan's Simplex, seeks $1.7 bln -sources

TOKYO, March 24 (Reuters) - U.S.-based property investment fund Aetos Capital Real Estate is preparing to sell Simplex Investment Advisors, a Japanese real estate asset management firm, seeking as much as 200 billion yen ($1.7 billion), people with knowledge of the deal said. Aetos, which has hired Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley as a sale adviser, has sounded out investment funds including U.S. property investor Blackstone Group LP and Hong Kong-based alternative asset manager PAG, the people said. The people declined to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to media. Aetos declined to comment. A Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley spokeswoman declined to comment. Simplex's assets include a hotel near Tokyo Disney Resort and a 12-storey office building in Tokyo's Toyosu district, near the venue for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Simplex also owns Simplex REIT Partners, which manages real estate trust SIA Reit Inc. Aetos and Goldman Sachs Group bought Simplex for about 500 billion yen in 2007 in Japan's largest-ever property deal. Aetos bought out Goldman's 50 percent stake in 2011, injecting an additional 10 billion yen and borrowing 150 billion yen. The sale will take place at a time when property values in Japan have risen on the back of monetary and fiscal stimulus under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. ($1 = 119.7600 yen) (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)