JLL enhances Japan capital markets and hotels platform with key hires

TOKYO, 18 January 2023 – JLL (NYSE: JLL) today announced significant enhancements to its Japan Capital Markets and Hotels & Hospitality Group teams with three senior appointments in Tokyo. The new hires are effective immediately and will provide an extension of the depth of advisory and transaction solutions provided by JLL to clients in Japan.

Paul Davis and Shai Greenberg will both join the firm in Tokyo as Co-Leads of International Capital, Japan. Both will have responsibility for servicing institutional investors looking to better access the Japan real estate market, advising on complex portfolio transactions and providing solutions to structure joint ventures and platforms within this mature economy.

Additionally, they will provide sector-specific advice focusing on Japan’s evolving alternative real estate asset sector including data centres, living and life sciences.

“International investors want greater exposure to Japan’s real estate market given its scale and stability of returns. The appointment of Paul and Shai is a response to the depth of interest we are seeing from our clients in Japan debt and equity opportunities,” says Stuart Crow, CEO, Capital Markets, Asia Pacific, JLL. 

Paul joins JLL from legal firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he was a Partner in the Singapore office advising real estate fund managers, operators and institutional investors on cross-border real estate transactions, including the formation of funds, platform and asset-level joint ventures, corporate and asset-level acquisitions, financing and development and leasing agreements. For Morrison & Foerster, he also spent seven years in its Tokyo office, advising on inbound and outbound real estate and corporate transactions.

Shai crosses to JLL from Genkai Capital Management in Tokyo, where he was most recently Senior Vice President responsible for cross-border transactions, structuring, fundraising and management of private debt funds and the underwriting and execution of private equity real estate investments in the US. Prior to this role, Shai was a Senior Manager for Cushman & Wakefield’s Japan business, providing advisory services including new business origination and execution, negotiation and financial analysis.

James Abe comes to JLL as Head of Investment Sales for its Hotels & Hospitality Group, Japan. He will be responsible for leading a diverse team of market-leading hospitality investment professionals in Japan, as well as partnering with members of the global and regional hotels business to further connect investors with opportunities in one of the world’s most mature hospitality markets.

He brings experience from Westmont Japan Investments, where he led their business in Japan. In this role, James was responsible for the sourcing and acquisition, disposition and asset management for Westmont’s hotel portfolio in Japan. He also brings experience from Shinsei Bank and Queens Capital Partners, a real estate investment & advisory company he founded in New York focused on deals in Japan and North America, covering direct real estate investments, distressed investments, arrangement of debt and equity, debt restructurings, equity recapitalisations, advisory and consulting.

“Japan remains one of the most active hospitality markets globally with investors consistently looking to increase their footprint via acquisitions, partnerships and platform investments. With the attractiveness of the Japan hotels market poised to grow further, a leader of James’ calibre will position JLL strongly to better fulfil the demands of our expanding client base in Japan,” says Nihat Ercan, Senior Managing Director, Head of Investment Sales, Asia Pacific, JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group.