Home > Kenedix Realty Investment > The Kenedix Realty Investment Story
Kenedix Realty Investment Corporation (KRI) is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust (REIT) founded in May 2005 which has grown to become one of the largest REITs in Japan specializing in mid-sized office properties. KRI's portfolio is primarily positioned in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area with properties in other major regional cities of a million or more in population.
KRI's roots trace back to the Beverly Hills based international real estate services and investment company Kennedy-Wilson, International. Founded in 1977 by Donald F. Kennedy and John Wilson, Kennedy-Wilson began to carefully cultivate its reputation as a diligent and trustworthy real estate auctioneer, helping greatly to rehabilitate the real estate market in southern California while upgrading the image of real estate auctioneers and raising the industry's overall standards of professionalism. In 1989, Kennedy-Wilson began doing business in Japan, investing primarily in office buildings and opening an office in Tokyo six years later.
In April 1995, Kennedy-Wilson Japan (name changed to Kenedix, Inc. in May 2005) was established and charged with handling Kennedy-Wilson's real estate operations in Japan. Two years later amid the financial crisis in Asian markets, Kenedix, Inc. began investment in real estate non-performing loans (NPL), and within a year Kenedix, Inc. was providing NPL investment support services to U.S. based institutional investors. In February 1999, Kenedix, Inc. arranged one of Japan's first non-recourse real estate loans, signaling its full-fledged entry into real estate asset management.
Kenedix, Inc. was quick to recognize changing trends in the real estate investment market such as the separation of real estate ownership and management and the rapid growth in securitization and real estate monetization. Kenedix, Inc. established a mid-sized office building investment fund largely funded by U.S.-based client investors prior to the enactment of the Investment Trusts and Investment Corporation Law in November 2000 which completed the legal platform necessary to establish the Japanese REIT (J-REIT) market. Kenedix, Inc. went public in 2001, and in 2003 established KW REIT Management Co., Ltd. (currently, Kenedix REIT Management, Inc.) which was to become the asset manager for KRI. As a pioneer in its field, Kenedix, Inc. has earned the confidence of pension funds and other institutional investors in Japan and overseas, and the company maintains a leading position within its industry particularly in terms of assets under management.
In May 2005, Kenedix, Inc. established KRI, an investment corporation managed by Kenedix REIT Management, Inc. which is a 100% consolidated subsidiary of Kenedix, Inc. and two months later KRI was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. KRI has continued to expand its dominant position in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area since listing in July 2005 by making strategic acquisitions in the key growth area of mid-sized office real estate after careful review of its portfolio development policy. This expansion has been marked by new investment in 28 office buildings from December 2006 for a total acquisition price of about 50 billion yen per year. These defining transactions have firmly established KRI as a major presence among mid-sized office REITs and positions KRI as a key player in the J-REIT market in the years to come.
