Macquarie to take control of Japan property broker

TOKYO (Reuters) - Macquarie Goodman Asia said on Thursday it would spend about 30 billion yen ($248 million) to take a controlling stake in real estate broker J-Rep Co. (8992.T) to help boost its business in Japan.

Macquarie Goodman Asia, a joint venture between Macquarie Goodman Group MGQ.AX and Macquarie Bank Ltd. MBL.AX, will buy 75,950 new shares in J-Rep at 400,000 yen a piece, or a 7.4 percent discount to Thursday's closing price of 432,000 yen.

The purchase will give Macquarie Goodman Asia a 53 percent stake in J-Rep, which specializes in brokering warehouses. J-Rep also securitizes warehouses for sale to investors and runs a management service for their upkeep.

J-Rep had booked a net profit of 1.4 billion yen on sales of 3.6 billion yen in the year ended March 20. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers section for up-and-coming firms.

Japanese land prices rose in 2006 for the first time in 16 years as the economy continued on its recovery path. A growing number of investors have been piling into the market, and competition for quality property assets is intensifying.

In a statement, Macquarie Goodman Asia said J-Rep would become a platform for its expansion in Japan. It said J-Rep would use the proceeds from the share issuance to secure investment and development assets.

J-Rep is preparing to launch a fund in 2008 and some of the new assets secured under the new partnership with Macquarie will be used to seed the fund.

Macquarie and its associates have more than A$3.2 billion assets management in Asia. Macquarie Bank's real estate businesses have been active in Japan for 6 years, according to the statement.