Kennedy-Wilson Purchases Japanese Loans

Kennedy-Wilson Inc. said it bought $250 million of nonperforming Japanese property loans for less than 10 cents on the dollar as it continues to scour the country for real estate bargains. The purchase brings to more than $1 billion the face value of Japanese loans that the Beverly Hills-based property management and investment firm has bought in the last 12 months. Japanese banks are writing off delinquent real estate loans made in the late 1980s. The country’s real estate market collapsed in the early 1990s and banks were saddled with a huge number of loans backed by devalued properties. Last year, Los Angeles-based Kennedy-Wilson and Colony Capital Inc. jointly bought 25 distressed Japanese properties and loans with an original face value of more than $400 million, also for less than 10 cents on the dollar. Other investments include a stake in Asset One, a loan-servicing business that’s liquidating Dai-Ichi Corp.’s $400 million in assets. Kennedy-Wilson’s shares fell 13 cents to close at $9.31 on Nasdaq.