Commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE has announced the appointment of a prominent industry veteran as the new President and CEO of CBRE’s business in Japan.

With effect from October 3, Eiji Sakaguchi will oversee all of CBRE’s Japan operations, encompassing ten offices and 1,200 employees. He will report to Ben Duncan, (pictured) North Asia President of CBRE, who has also been serving as CEO for Japan.

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Sakaguchi is a seasoned industry veteran with over 26 years of real estate experience and an extensive financial background. He is widely recognized as one of the most prominent real estate professionals in Japan.

«Sakaguchi-san is a passionate leader who has outstanding business acumen and understands and appreciates the culture of our business, I’m very excited to have him lead the next phase of our development across Japan drawing on his decades of experience and the breadth of his relationships,» said Duncan. 

Tokyo Market a Draw

He joins CBRE from Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities where he was Managing Director and Head of Real Estate. While there, Sakaguchi oversaw a range of successful asset transactions, as well as private and public capital market activities.

Before joining Morgan Stanley in 2001, he spent 11 years at Mitsui Fudosan, where he held key roles in asset and property management, leasing, investment and development activity.

In the lead up to the 2020 Olympic Games Japanese commercial property has been attracting the attention of a myriad of Asian investors including the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund.