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Positive vibes for Japan's love hotels if Goldman's in bed
By William Sparrow
March 7, 2005
Japan's booming love-hotel industry is rumored to have attracted the attention
of Goldman Sachs, the US-based heavyweight investment bank, brokerage and
fnancial-management house. Word on the street, according to CBS MarketWatch, is
that Goldman may be seeking to purchase the Japanese company UFJ Holdings' CMA
commercial lending unit.
UFJ's diverse holdings via CMA's commercial lending unit center on real estate
and include golf courses, gaming parlors and "love hotels" or "short stay"
styled lodging that have become a mainstay in Japanese culture, valued at
US$429 million. Goldman representatives refused to comment on the rumored
acquisition.
Many people in Japan frequent the conveinient, anonymous and often lush
facilities of Japan's bustling love hotels. Sometimes it may be a romantic
anniversary celebrated at one of Tokyo's posh love hotels in the trendy
Maruyama-cho district in Shibuya, or other times it may be a secret and shadowy
rendezvous of a couple seeking privacy that cannot be afforded elsewhere.
Love hotels, which rent out rooms to amorous couples by the hour, rake in at
least 4 trillion yen ($37 billion) a year, slightly more than the gross
domestic product of Cuba, Asian Sex Gazette reported on January 20. Taboo or
not, such staggering figures as these have not escaped international investors.
However, the industry does not come without "negative fundamental" issues,
least of which may be the lack of a wholesome family image. Some cite that the
industry's purported connections to Japan's Yakuza, a renowned international
organized crime syndicate, may deter investor confidence.
Popular support
"I would say this would be a major step toward legitimizing to the capital
markets that these are great acquisitions," said Scott Delany, managing
director at Hong Kong-based private-equity firm MHS Capital Partners. "These
are money makers. The yields on these are 20-30%, usually," he told
MarketWatch.
MHS, a major investment competitor for a share of the love-hotel industry,
started a $10 million pilot fund last April to invest in leisure hotel
properties, targeting net returns of at least 20%. A dozen European, US and
Asian investors put up cash, including two unnamed institutions.
Last November, MHS announced that it had acquired its first property in the
Greater Tokyo area. It aims to invest in up to four love-hotel properties worth
up to $4 million each, and eventually hopes to tap international capital
markets for debt funding.
While the Goldman investment might help to legitimize an otherwise shadowy
industry, there may be other more important goals for the investment bank.
Goldman Sachs is one of the larget golf-course operators in Japan and in 2003
launched a subsidiary, Accordia Golf, and UFJ/CMA's holdings are likely
appealing in this regard.
Love hotels, then, may just be the icing on the cake for Goldman, which may
have more mainstream investment and real-estate aspirations in Japan.
Legitamacy, international investment and mainstream recognition, though, could
prove to be the watershed for Japanese love hotels by putting them on the menu
of international investors.
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The
wacky world of love hotels
3-7-2005
Investors
eye Japan's famous 'love hotels'
2-20-2005
All's
fair in love hotels and war
2-10-2005
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