Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's biggest buyout fund, has set up an office in Japan and is seeking to invest in real estate, company spokesman John Ford said Thursday.

The Tokyo office of the New York-based firm is headed by Alan Miyasaki, Ford said in a telephone interview, declining to provide further details on staff or the size of investments. The firm announced a few months ago it would expand in Asia, Ford said.

"We have established a presence in Tokyo and we will see how things develop in the next few months," he said.

Buyouts are expected to grow in Japan as global private equity funds are drawn by the nation's cash-rich companies. Private equity and management buyouts targeted at Japanese companies have grown 7.5 percent to $6.7 billion so far this year, about 1.5 percent of similar transactions in the U.S.

Investment banks, real estate investment trusts and private equity firms are acquiring assets in Japan after property prices rose last year for the first time since 1991.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. spent ¥2 trillion since 1998 on office buildings, golf courses and resorts, while Morgan Stanley, the biggest owner of real estate among Wall Street firms, bought offices and hotels.

Blackstone, whose shares debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in June, raised a $21.7 billion fund in August, its fifth and the industry's largest. Acquisitions this year by the firm, founded in 1985, included Hilton Hotels Corp. and Alliance Data Systems Corp.