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German real estate expert Dr. Meyer zu Brickwedde builds new bridges between Japan and Germany for professional investors by founding the Kensho Investment Group
2022-01-28
Tokyo – Japan real estate specialist Dr. Leonard Meyer zu Brickwedde is realising a long-held vision by founding the Kensho Investment Group: “We form the centre of competence for institutional investors for cross-border real estate transactions between Japan and Germany,” explains the experienced consultant, asset manager and fund developer at the launch of his new venture. Kensho invests German institutional capital in residential real estate in Japan and accompanies Japanese investors to Germany and Europe.
In its field of business, the new group starts as a heavyweight: its founder, president, and CEO builds up the new business together with first-class partners in Japan and Germany. “As the only German-speaking direct investor in Japan, we are very well connected on many levels in both countries,” Meyer zu Brickwedde emphasises.
Japanese residential real estate has proven to be a particularly resilient asset during the pandemic providing stably high returns. Meyer zu Brickwedde positions Kensho as a focused specialist for this market and develops the optimal investment strategy together with the investor, adapted to his risk profile. By gradually building up a property portfolio, Kensho creates added value compared to individual investments and large-scale projects. An in-house research team provides the data for a fully transparent property selection. “We can create value-adding alliances because there are no conflicts of interest for us,” Meyer zu Brickwedde explains.
With his group, the German also supports Japanese investors during their entry to Germany and Europe. To this end, Kensho and the Berlin-based analysis company bulwiengesa have founded the information portal “Japanese German Real Estate Bridge”. It brings together real estate experts from both countries. In addition, Kensho cooperates with the KGAL Group, based in Grünwald near Munich, a leading investment and asset manager for assets of over 15 billion euros.
Meyer zu Brickwedde has been at home in Japan for almost three decades. As the head of the Kensho predecessor Kenzo Capital Corporation, he launched the first German special fund for Japanese residential real estate in 2017. Before that, he had built up the Japan subsidiary of Hypo Real Estate into the largest non-Japanese real estate lender from 2004. He entered real estate financing as head of Hypovereinsbank’s Japan branch in 2000 when the institutional real estate market in Japan began to develop.