Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), responsible for the investments of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), has announced the closure of its Tokyo real estate office.

Following a strategic review, NBIM said that expanding its Japan real estate portfolio through direct investments is “no longer a priority”. 

“Given the limited portfolio size, we believe maintaining a dedicated local presence is no longer warranted when considering the associated operational costs and organizational capacity required,” NBIM said.

The real estate office in Tokyo was opened in 2015 to support the ambition of building a global real estate portfolio with local presence in the regions where the GPFG is invested.

NBIM has since completed two direct real estate investments in the city, which will be retained after the closure of the office.

Its Tokyo office currently employs five people and NBIM said it will ensure the “closure process is carried out in an orderly manner, with appropriate support for our colleagues” indicating that they will be made redundant.

“The decision does not impact our equity and fixed-income investments in Japan. Japan is the fund's second largest equity market exposure, and we will continue to be a significant investor in the Japanese market,” NBIM added.

As of 31 March 2025, the fund had NOK 1,147bn invested in Japan, across equity, fixed income and real estate.

The fund’s other offices are unaffected by the decision and its investment exposure to Japan across all asset classes remains unchanged.

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