<article>A group led by property investor Asia Pacific Land (APL) has shelved the sale of a Tokyo office building and will instead refinance as much as $1.2 billion in debt, taking advantage of low interest rates, two people with knowledge of the matter said.</article>

A group led by property investor Asia Pacific Land (APL) has shelved the sale of a Tokyo office building and will instead refinance as much as $1.2 billion in debt, taking advantage of low interest rates, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
APL and its partners put the property up for sale in December, expecting it to fetch more than 160 billion yen ($1.4 billion) but the highest offer was just 150 billion yen, said one of the people.
APL, which invests in properties in Japan, China and Taiwan, acquired the Shiba Park Building in 2013 with partners, U.S. insurance magnate Maurice &#8220;Hank&#8221; Greenberg, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council and Hong Kong-based alternative investor PAG.
APL and its partners are seeking to refinance as much as 135 billion yen in five-year debt, said the people, declining to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media on the matter.
That is more than the 125 billion yen they paid for the building in 2013.
APL declined to comment.
An improving Tokyo property market has made refinancing debt easier and last month, the Bank of Japan adopted negative interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy.
The Shiba Park Building &#8211; nicknamed the &#8220;Gunkan&#8221; or &#8220;Warship&#8221; building &#8211; was built in 1982. It has more than 83,510 square metres available for rent, much bigger than other properties in its neighborhood.
APL and its partners were keen to sell it to sovereign wealth funds or Japanese developers interested in a long-term investment delivering stable returns, but those kinds of buyers thought the building did not justify the target price because of its age, several property investors told Reuters.
They also declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak on the matter.
Many office properties in Tokyo are new and more high rise office towers will be added in the next few years.
Some 43 percent of Tokyo office buildings larger than 10,000 square metres were built after 2000, according to Sachiko Okada, a real estate analyst at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo.
<h4>(Reuters)</h4>

A group led by property investor Asia Pacific Land (APL) has shelved the sale of a Tokyo office building and will instead refinance as much as $1.2 billion in debt.

Asia Pacific Land-led group drops Tokyo building sale, to refinance $1.2b debt

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Asia Pacific Land-led group drops Tokyo building sale, to refinance $1.2b debt

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