Japan’s $1.8T Government Pension Investment Fund has promoted Kijima Kozo to head of real estate from co-head and senior director of real estate, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Kozo joined GPIF in January 2018, joining as a director on its real estate and alternative investment team then was promoted to senior director and co-head of the team in December 2024. He then moved into heading up the portfolio in July 2026.
Before joining GPIF, Kozo spent nearly six years as senior manager at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, working on its cross-border real estate investment advisory group for nearly five years. Earlier in his career, he was a director at Société Générale from 2008 to 2012, overseeing real estate product investment for its private banking division in Singapore.
He began his career in Tokyo, working on the real estate investment team at Sojitz Corp. and as a vice-president on Crédit Agricole CIB real estate team within the structured finance department. He also spent three years at Morgan Stanley working on real estate non-recourse loan origination within the securitized products group.
GPIF posted a 16.47% investment return for the year, driven by strong gains in domestic and foreign equities and a weaker yen. Within alternative assets, the infrastructure and real estate portfolio returned 8.71% in yen terms. Alternative investments made up 1.74% of GPIF’s total portfolio, within its 5% ceiling.