Partners Group’s head of Japan departs

Teppei Kawai, head of Japan at Switzerland-headquartered manager Partners Group, has stepped down from his role, PERE has learned.

Kawai is understood to have left the firm at the end of December, according to his LinkedIn update. His departure came shortly after he started in the role in April 2023. He was hired as managing director, head of client solutions in Japan and head of Partners Group’s Tokyo office, according to an announcement in January 2023. Before this, the firm’s Japan office was led by Shun Tanahashi for six years. Following his takeover, Kawai was tasked with growing the group’s presence in Japan and working closely with the existing Tokyo team.

While Kawai has left the group to pursue other interests, his role is being covered by the firm’s Asia chairman Kevin Lu. A permanent replacement for Kawai will be appointed in due course, according to a spokesperson from Partners Group.

Before joining Partners Group, Kawai spent seven years at US private equity heavyweight Apollo Global Management where he was the head of client and product solutions in Japan, according to a PERE report. During his time at Apollo, he spearheaded the marketing of the firm’s investment vehicles across private equity, private credit and real assets to Japanese institutional investors. He also led the launch of Apollo’s first retail capital business in Japan, partnering with a private bank in the country. Just before his departure in 2022, he participated in Apollo and its retirement services business Athene’s $1.5 billion strategic partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings to invest across alternative asset classes in the country.

The last time Partners Group announced a real estate investment in Japan was 2021, when it bought Grade A office property Tama Center in Tokyo. The transaction was the firm’s first direct real estate acquisition in the country for five years. It was looking to add value to the property by increasing the net leasable area, renovating the property, executing the lease renewals of key tenants and reducing energy consumption, according to Rahul Ghai, the group’s managing director for private real estate Asia back then.

Shortly after the announcement that year, the group made significant changes to its private real estate team in Singapore where Ghai was relocated to London to become the real estate co-head of Europe, as reported by PERE. He later left the firm in November 2023 to join Australian real estate company Salter Brothers, according to a PERE report. Meanwhile, Joe Chien, former managing director at Blackstone Real Estate, was hired by Partners Group and has been spearheading its Asia real estate business solely since 2021.