Japan

JAPAN - Pension funds which snapped up top-notch office buildings in downtown Tokyo are benefiting from booming office prices on the back of a resurgence of interest in property investment by Japanese investors.

JAPAN - Noboru Terada, the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund's executive investment officer is unlikely to continue in his post following reforms to the world's biggest pension fund.

JAPAN/NETHERLANDS - ABP, the pension scheme for the Dutch civil service, has appointed Hermes to help undertake its share ownership responsibilities for its equity investments in Japan.

JAPAN - Wilshire Associates and Japanese asset management firm Daiwa SB Investments are launching a hedge fund of funds in Japan aimed at large institutional investors including pension funds, insurance companies and banks.

JAPAN - Japan's Pension Fund Association (PFA) is preparing to sue Seibu Railway in a bid to seek compensation for losses incurred during 2004, when the rail group was thrown out of the Tokyo Stock Exchange for falsifying financial statements.

JAPAN - Threadneedle Investments has appointed Alex Kydd fund manager on its Japanese desk in a bid to strengthen its presence in the region.

JAPAN - The Japanese equity market is likely to outperform its Chinese counterpart in 2005, according to Baring Asset Management (BAM).

JAPAN - Japanese institutions might be relying too heavily on their brokers for essential research and services, new research by Greenwich Associates suggests.

JAPAN - Japanese smaller companies remain a ‘particularly attractive' investment despite recent market gyrations, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership claims.

JAPAN - The Japanese economy is starting to enjoy its first self-sustained recovery since the bubble burst in 1989, a leading fund manager claims.