Shinsei Bank Sells HQ to Fujisawa for $1.5B

TOKYO-Shinsei Bank is selling its headquarters here in the Uchisaiwaicho District for about $1.5 billion (118 billion yen) to Fujisawa Holding TMK, a real estate fund owned by Morgan Stanley. The bank is selling the asset to move to a newer and cheaper head office within the next three years, according to a company statement.

The offer from Morgan Stanley was unsolicited and came with many others, the statement says. The sale of the building is hoped to improve the bank’s bottom line, which was hit by the problems in the US mortgage market, and management is increasing the bank’s profit forecast as a result of the sale by 15 million yen, to 65 million yen, for the fiscal year ending March 31.

“This simply makes good economic sense,” says Thierry Porté, president and CEO of Shinsei Bank. “It’s an opportunity to realign our front- and back-office operations, invest in Japanese assets and better position ourselves to build greater shareholder value going forward.”