While far from immune to global economic weakness and risks, the APAC region has more resilient growth projections in the medium term, buoyed by its growing middle class, says Richard van den Berg, fund manager for M&G Asia Property Strategy.
In a series on how Asian markets might develop in the coming year, AsianInvestor zooms in on Japan and how investors might find value in stocks on the backdrop of a weak yen and a loose monetary policy.
Japan Post Bank has expanded its alternatives allocation as promised in 2017, although by pivoting towards private equity and moving away from hedge funds.
With unstable markets and a relatively low yen, the Japanese corporate pension fund faces plenty of challenges — but a multi-pronged investment strategy for next year is taking form.
The corporate pension fund has seen a relatively good performance in 2022 so far. But the future holds a lot of challenges, its investment director tells AsianInvestor.
Despite a tech crackdown in Beijing and a talent drought in Tokyo, the insurer’s property arm says it is still seeing opportunities in these key markets.
Japan’s depreciating yen made the reopening of the country’s borders inevitable. While the move will allow dealmaking to be smoother, new overseas investments will be a costly affair for Japanese asset owners.
In 2018, Japan’s GPIF sought exposure to global real estate as part of a strategy to increase its alternatives portfolio - four years on, its allocation has grown nearly 500%.
Investors, though cautious, are sitting on record amounts of dry powder and will remain on the lookout for bargains in mature markets including Japan and Singapore.