MGPA has paid $52 million for an office building located in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo near to the Kudanshita subway station. It has a floor space of 7,500 square metres over nine floors. MGPA plans to add value and boost rentals by refurbishing the building.
MGPA has also bought a 30-floor residential tower in Sapporo next door to the local GovernorÆs residence, comprising of 140 apartments covering a rentable area of 11,600 square metres.
Concurrently, MGPA has unveiled a new product branding by which the Sapporo residential tower will be labelled. Their new brand is called æMy atriaö. Macquarie points out that this is derived from the Latin word for the entrance hall to a house or temple. Classics scholars might point out that æAtrium meumÆ might therefore be more precise.
ôWe buy, fix and sell. We particularly focus on ugly buildings in good streets that we can refurbish,ö says Simon Treacy, managing director of Macquarie Global Property Advisors ôA third fund is on the horizon and we have a deep pipeline of deals, small, mid-sized, large and elephant deals.ö
Macquarie prides itself on what its sees as its differentiation from the other monster-sized property funds, characterising the real estate guys who run its fund as hard-hatted property blokes, unafraid to get their hands dirty, as opposed to investment bankers in Kenzo suits.
MGP Fund II closed in September 2005 with commitments of $1.3 billion. To date this fund has invested more than $1 billion in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. MGPA has total assets under management of $3.1 billion throughout Asia and Europe.
MGPA was formed in early 2004 following a management buyout from Lend Lease of its global fund investment advisory platform.
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