Hong Kong-based private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners is keen on real estate deals in Japan’s western island of Kyushu, citing the opportunity that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) factories being built could bring to the region.
"We are looking in that area, obviously we believe that with TSMC, it would change the market a lot,” Isabella Lo, Gaw’s managing director and head of Japan investments, said in an interview Wednesday. Gaw, which already manages $3.8 billion of property assets in Japan, has just begun its search in Kyushu — a region where it hasn’t made acquisitions before, Lo said, adding that she would be interested in developing a logistics property and buying residential real estate in the area.
TSMC is building an $8 billion fabrication plant in Kumamoto Prefecture in partnership with a subsidiary of Sony Group that is expected to come online in late 2024, as the chipmaker diversifies its operations amid geopolitical tensions and chip shortages. The Taiwanese company is planning a second factory in Kumamoto for completion in the late 2020s, Nikkan Kogyo reported in February.