[ad_1]
Written by Mariko Katsumura and Rocky Swift
TOKYO (Reuters) – Singapore-based investor Patience Capital Group, which is backing a $1.42 billion luxury ski project in northern Japan, is offering the fund to new investors eager to participate before the Bank of Japan tightens its rules. Discussions are underway regarding reopening.
PCG’s initial 35 billion yen ($237 million) fund, announced last year to transform Myoko Kogen in Japan’s Niigata Prefecture into a winter sports destination on par with Aspen and Whistler, will With the accumulation of new funds from investors, it could grow to 60 billion yen. said PCG founder Ken Chan.
Japan is riding a twin boom in investment and visitors, boosted by a weak yen that makes the country a bargain for foreigners. Mr. Chan invests in lodging and resort properties, and he established his PCG in 2019 to get the benefits of both.
The Bank of Japan is expected to move as early as next week, beginning a long period of normalization after nearly 20 years of easy monetary policy. With this change and a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve, the yen is likely to rise from its current nearly 30-year low, Chan said.
“From a macro perspective, this is clearly a very important year for putting money into yen assets, because the yen is too cheap right now,” said Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. said Mr Chan, who founded PCG after working at GIC for 19 years. He was in charge of Japan.
“We will continue to see investors looking to take positions in this market in the coming months,” he added.
Mr. Chan, who was born in Japan and spent his childhood there, last year laid out plans to transform the Myoko Kogen area into an upscale winter paradise that would attract wealthy snow fans who travel around the world.
His fund, which targets institutional and high-net-worth investors, bought about 350 hectares of land, including two existing ski areas.
Mr. Chan said he is considering buying other ski resorts in the Myoko area if he can find willing sellers, and is in talks with railway operator Tokyu to buy nearby Tangram Resort. He said that
Full construction will take about 10 years, but Chan aims to have the first two luxury hotels completed by 2028. Construction has been halted due to the large earthquake that occurred on the Noto Peninsula on January 1, so the project is one year behind the original plan. resource.
PCG plans to raise approximately 35 billion yen in two additional funds for this project, with debt leverage doubling the spending power of all funds.
Total spending is still benchmarked at the 210 billion yen level, but “it could absolutely exceed (that number) because there is so much land waiting to be developed,” Chan said.
labor shortage
Japan enjoys some of the world’s best powder snow every year, but much of the country’s ski industry is plagued by aging infrastructure and a shrinking domestic customer base.
The number of skiers and snowboarders in Japan has fallen by about 75% from its peak in 1998 as of 2022, according to the Japan Productivity Center. Global warming has led to less snow in all but the northernmost regions of the country, resulting in seven ski resorts going bankrupt by 2023.
Myoko is about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Tokyo, where cold winds from the Sea of Japan bring some of the deepest snow in the world. But the region has so far missed the attention and investment seen in nearby Hakuba and Niseko in Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Another hurdle for PCG and other aspiring developers is Japan’s tight labor market. Retail and hospitality industries have not recovered from the pandemic-induced exodus of workers. There is a lack of skilled, multilingual staff needed for luxury resorts.
Chan hopes to solve this problem by building dormitories and housing in the Myoko area, making it an attractive town that attracts foreign and domestic workers throughout multiple seasons.
“Local livability is something that really needs to be addressed from the beginning,” he said.
(1 dollar = 147.8200 yen)
(Reporters Mariko Katsumura and Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
[ad_2]
Source link
