Browse > Home / Banking, Real Estate / Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month

Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month

March 13, 2008
By Ken Worsley


Apparently burdened by heavy subprime-related losses, Shinsei Bank has announced the sale of its Tokyo head offices to a real estate fund connected with Morgan Stanley. About a month ago, Morgan paid about $440 million to acquire Citibank’s Tokyo headquarters in Shinagawa. Shinsei’s headquarters, located across from Hibiya Park, went for about $1.18 billion.

Shinsei appears to be in a bit of trouble, with a steadily eroding share price - down about 34% since the end of January - and about $2 billion still owed to the Japanese government, thanks to a bailout about a decade ago, when the bank was known as Long Term Credit Bank.

Shinsei apparently intends to remain in the building for now (and hopefully they keep that Starbucks on the ground floor), but will be looking to move to a new location in about three years.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Resona Bank would also be putting their Tokyo headquarters up for sale, at a price in the $1.75 billion range. Resona is also burdened with repayment obligations to the government, and also intends to move office within the next few years. Resona’s share price has fallen about 16% since the beginning of 2008.

But back to Morgan Stanley, who certainly has been buying up a noticeable amount of Tokyo property. The Financial Times asks:

What we want to know is what drives Morgan Stanley’s seemingly unshakable faith in the value of Tokyo commercial property. As Bloomberg noted, Morgan Stanley has invested more than $18bn in the Japanese real estate market in the past decade and continues to buy property in the country even after reporting a fourth-quarter loss of $3.56bn, the first in the investment bank’s history.

We might find part of the answer in the fact that Morgan Stanley’s recent sale of the Tokyo Westin hotel to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation for about 77 billion yen brought a return of over 50% in under four years.

Filed Under Banking, Real Estate 

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us:Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month digg:Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month newsvine:Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month furl:Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month reddit:Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month
Related Posts:
Shinsei, Aozora merger still not announced
Bad news for the banking industry
Aozora Bank raided: Insider trading suspected
BizCast Japan #14: The iPhone in Japan, Department Stores, Real Estate, the G8, Nissan, Shinsei and Consumer Sentiment
Yomiuri Rumor: A ‘District’ for Foreign Businesspeople to be Built in Tokyo

Comments

6 Responses to “Shinsei Bank sells Tokyo headquarters, joining Citibank; Resona announcement due by the end of the month”

  1. Roary on March 13th, 2008 10:34 pm

    These firms are desperate. JC Flowers has disappeared. Selling off their head offices and owing billions still to taxpayers - more consolidation to come.

  2. Durf on March 18th, 2008 6:33 pm

    Definitely hope the Starbucks stays . . . I’m nextdoor in the Press Center and that place supplies me with needed shots of espresso.

  3. Joe on March 28th, 2008 6:19 pm

    Wonder where Shinsei will move. Citibank moved to Konan and Resona moved to Kiba. So where’s Shinsei headed — Nakano perhaps? Toyosu? The Yokohama waterfront? So many possibilities, and so many opportunities for “new urban center” expansion when 2,000+ jobs move over.

  4. Ken Worsley on March 28th, 2008 9:36 pm

    Joe, definitely - one of the side effects of these moves is the spreading out of the workforce, and (though it’s only to a small degree), the loosening of the chokehold on Chiyoda/Minato/Chou. Companies need to be defined by accomplishments more than addresses - and opportunities for that are opening up.

    I like Nakano for Shinsei. Just a feeling (ie, bet on somewhere else).

  5. Yardle on April 13th, 2008 3:51 pm

    What came of the Resona announcement?

  6. Ken Worsley on September 5th, 2008 10:55 am

    So it’s going to be Nihonbashi?

Got something to say?