Mitsubishi Estate Co., Japan's second-largest developer, said Monday it has bought two buildings in central Tokyo from Lone Star Funds.
The developer bought the 18-story Kokusai Shin-Akasaka Building West Tower and 24-story Kokusai Shin-Akasaka East Tower for about ¥80 billion, according to two people familiar with the transaction.
The deal was closed on March 14, said Ryuichiro Funo, a spokesman at Mitsubishi Estate, three days after a magnitude 9 earthquake, Japan's strongest temblor, shook buildings in the nation's capital.
"We decided to go ahead with the purchase after confirming that no damage had been done to the buildings after the earthquake," said Funo. He declined to comment on whether the quake affected the price.
Mitsubishi Estate will hold the buildings for a while, said Funo. "We haven't decided the timing as to when to redevelop the buildings," he said.
Lone Star, a Dallas-based buyer of distressed real estate, agreed to buy three buildings in Tokyo, including the two towers, for ¥117 billion from Kokusai Motorcars Co., a taxi firm, in August 2004, people involved in the transaction said then.
Prices of office buildings in the capital are about 40 percent to 50 percent below their peak in 2007, according to CB Richard Ellis Group Inc.