GE Real Estate Japan has agreed to sell a portfolio of two office buildings and five multi-family properties in the Tokyo area in a $309 million deal. The transaction will be conducted under a joint venture agreement between GE Real Estate and LCP REIT Advisors Ltd., the asset manager for LCP Investment Corp., a Japanese REIT.

Under the terms of the deal, LCP Investment will take control of the properties for the purchase price, and a Japanese GE entity, New Mission Funding Corp., will purchase 32,500 newly-issued units in LCP Investment of approximately $117 million.

 GE Real Estate Japan president Tomoyuki Yoshida said in a statement that his company was impressed with LCP's management expertise and looked to the transaction to further GE's goal to "add larger, high quality assets to raise the overall profile and value" of the Japanese REIT. Since GE is now an investor in the REIT, it will benefit from the growth engendered in the REIT by the contribution of the seven assets to its portfolio.

LCP Investment Corp. has amassed a portfolio of 36 assets since its inception in September 2005. Most of the REIT's holdings are in the residential and senior housing sectors.

GE Real Estate Japan, established in 1998, currently has net earning assets of some $5 billion, including 150 office properties and 12,000 residential units across the country.

LCP will raise the funds for the transaction--minus the price of the units sold to GE--via a loan from UBS. UBS Securities Japan Ltd. acted as sole financial advisor to GE Real Estate Japan on the deal.