Real Estate / ODI
A major Chinese chemical manufacturer acquiring an office building as its operating base in Japan. We ran the whole sequence: the outbound direct investment filing in China, the US$4.2 million remittance, the ¥348 million purchase, and registration of the transfer of ownership.
Client
Published without the client's name at their request. The figures and dates shown are published with their permission.
348million yen
Price of the central Tokyo office building
4.2million USD
Remitted in full under the ODI filing
6months
From shortlisting to transfer of ownership
Each of them comes up again for every company weighing an investment in Japan.
In central Tokyo, an office building that is well located, laid out in usable floor plates and actually vacant is rare enough that few reach the open market.
If the banking process in China ran late, the deposit — ten per cent of the price — would miss its due date, and the contract carried a loss if it did.
Moving money across the border, and holding the property afterwards, both carry costs. What those would amount to had to be known before the decision, not after.
Access to the building, and certainty about the money. We designed around those two things and nothing else.
Working directly with major Japanese agencies gave us buildings before they circulated, and we identified one that met the conditions in a short window.
The ODI filing route was the primary one, with a second prepared in parallel against delay. Meeting the payment date came before everything else.
Each stage was planned backwards from its deadline, so nothing waited on the one before it.
End of 2024
Approval obtained for a US$4.2 million investment allowance.
March 2025
Shortlisting starts across the Japanese property market.
4 July 2025
An office building in a prime central Tokyo location, at ¥348 million.
10 July 2025
Intent to buy formally registered with the seller.
18 July 2025
Ten per cent deposit paid, along with half the brokerage commission.
5 August 2025
The remaining 90 per cent paid, along with the balance of the commission.
10 September 2025
Transfer of ownership registered and the title confirmed in the client's name.
What the investment was for — a real operating base — was secured without delay or default.
A prime central Tokyo office building acquired, giving the company a real presence in Japan and a footing for the business that follows.
The full US$4.2 million remitted under the ODI filing, with no delay and no breach, and settlement made on the date agreed.
A stable Chinese parent and Japanese subsidiary, which is what the company's longer-term expansion in Japan will rest on.
The legal work completed and ownership registered in the client's name, leaving nothing outstanding against the asset.
A Chinese manufacturer's property investment in Japan and a compliant ODI process, completed as one piece of work rather than two.
It established a way of handling the three questions that recur on every investment into Japan: whether the building exists, whether the money arrives, and what the tax position costs.
The sequence from filing to registration can be run the same way again, which makes it useful to any company weighing a base in Japan.
There is no charge for an initial consultation. We can work in English, Japanese or Chinese, around where your business currently stands.
