Gaw Capital Partners, the real estate private equity firm controlled by Hong Kong’s billionaire Gaw family, has acquired a high-end shopping mall in central Tokyo for more than $1 billion in a joint venture with Singapore’s Patience Capital Group (PCG).

Gaw Capital announced on Friday it had partnered with PCG to purchase and manage Tokyu Plaza Ginza. The Hong Kong-based investor said the deal marks its largest transaction in Japan to date. Gaw Capital owns a 91% stake in the joint venture while PCG owns the remaining 9%.

Located in Tokyo’s upscale shopping district, Tokyu Plaza Ginza has a gross floor area of about 50,000 square meters. The mall, completed in 2016, was developed by Japanese property company Tokyu Land and sold to Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Panasonic Finance in 2023 for an undisclosed amount.

Gaw Capital said it decided to acquire Tokyu Plaza Ginza because of Japan’s strong retail sales, driven by a weak yen and tourism boom. The firm said it plans to transform the mall “into a vibrant, brand-new retail destination with a refreshed tenant mix and a coherent concept.”

Gaw Capital, chaired by Goodwin Gaw, manages nearly $36 billion in assets as of the third quarter of 2024. Some $5 billion worth of its assets are located in Japan, including an 11,233-square-meter property in the Fuchu Intelligent Park data center cluster the firm bought last May for an undisclosed amount amid the AI boom.

Gaw Capital is among a string of foreign investment firms that are capitalizing on Japan’s undervalued properties, cheap yen and low borrowing costs. Goldman Sachs estimated that there could be at least 25 trillion yen ($165 billion) in unrealized property gains across more than 250 Japanese companies whose primary business is not real estate. These companies are under pressure to divest non-core property assets, which soared in recent years, amid a government reform to improve investor returns.

In December, Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, announced it had agreed to acquire a mixed-use development in Tokyo from local conglomerate Seibu Holdings for $2.6 billion. Blackstone said its purchase of the Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho marks the largest real estate investment by a foreign investor in Japan.