Asset Managers Holdings, Japan’s second biggest publicly traded real estate manager, said it’s seeking acquisitions and aims to invest as much as 60 billion yen ($645m) in Tokyo commercial properties. The stock jumped.

The firm will target real estate investment trust managers and building management businesses, spending about 2 billion yen on each takeover, said Kenji Iwasaki, the company’s president. It also plans to purchase Tokyo office buildings worth at least about 2 billion yen each for new property funds, Iwasaki, 42, said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.

Asset Managers will start new funds for the first time since the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers as credit becomes more available and property prices fall. Japan’s 38 publicly traded real estate investment trusts more than doubled property purchases in the first quarter to 229 billion yen, according to IB Research and Consulting.

bloomberg.com