Pemberton opens Tokyo office to serve Japanese demand for European credit

Pemberton Asset Management has opened a Tokyo office, giving the European private credit manager a permanent base for the Japanese institutional investors it says it has served since 2018. The firm oversees $34bn in assets.

The office will be led by Jun Narui, head of Asia Pacific, and Shintaro Mori in business development, both of whom will relocate to Tokyo, alongside Ayu Kurauchi in investor relations, Pemberton said.

Pemberton also hired Shotaro Sese as executive director for business development and Naoko Nozaki as head of compliance, both based in Tokyo. Sese will develop institutional investor relationships and support the firm's growth in Japan, while Nozaki will oversee compliance matters in the country.

Pemberton also plans to open a second office in Asia in the near future, though it did not specify a location or date.

"Interest in private credit continues to grow among Japanese institutional investors," Narui said, adding that as allocations increase, many investors are moving beyond direct lending into other areas of private credit. He tied interest in European credit to geographic diversification and to the depth, scale and maturity of the region's lending markets.

The Tokyo roles Pemberton has named are for client coverage, not loan origination.

In September we reported Europe's direct lending record rests on a hedge, with Hayfin's €15bn close bought largely as American diversification while European deal flow shrinks.

Pemberton has also been adding capability beyond direct lending elsewhere in the business. In September this publication reported it hired Investcorp's Courtman to run its €1.6bn CLO platform.

"Japan is an important market for us," Drake-Brockman said. He said the firm's London-based team had built the Japanese business for nearly a decade, and a permanent Tokyo presence would allow it to work more closely with clients in the market.