The man behind Leopalace21 - the title sponsor of Myanmar Open 201  12:00, 29/01/2017

Can you tell us about Leopalace 21?

Our corporation Leopalace21 is listed in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and manages 570,000 rental residences within Japan, making our company one of the largest real estate corporations in the country. Fully intergrating services from construction contracting to building maintenance, finding tenants and managing leases, 80% Japanese listed companies have been using our services for company housing. Nowadays, Leopalace21 is agressively expanding overseas and has 16 companies and branches mainly in Asia. The ASEAN countries including Myanmar is of our particular recent interest.

Why Leopalace21 interested in golf and why do you sponsor Myanmar Open?

Golf is growing very fast in Asia, and becoming more and more popular. In Myanmar, although there are about 100,000 people playing golf but we believe this number will grow very fast. Leoplalace21 not only shows prominent in Japan but also contributes to society through the promotion of sport activites for many years. In Japan, we sponsor not only golf tournament but also prominent golfers.

We started our sponsorship for Myanmar Open in 2016 with the connection of the Chairman of Asian Tour  Kyi Hla Han and continue as the main sponsor this year. We expect while bringing excitement to Myanmar's golfing scene, we also aim to boost brand recognition in countries beside Japan. 

Yangon Golf Course (Image: Asian Tour)

Sponsoring Myanmar Open for two consecutive years, do you get turnover on your investment?

You know propety is growing very fast in this country. Before our company has mainly aimed at Japanese customers but now we hope to expand our services to local business and people. When economic development results in higher income, demand for value-added services will increase. We believe that the leaving standard available in Japanese appartments will become neccessary in Myanmar in 20 years! We invest in the future and willing to offer join ventures with local businesses to bring our services to local people. 

Why are you expanding your business in Asia?

The Asian economies  are growing very fast, many Japanese people invest in Asian countries, that’s why we would like to bring them our services everywhere they go. We believe Asia is a very important market for our future. Leopalace21 already has entered the market in South Korea, China and Taiwan. Now we see ASIAN countries will become an engine of growth in the next 20 years. That is why Leopalace21 established their first locally offices in Thailand and Vietnam in 2013, Cambodia and Myanmar in 2014, the Phillipines and Indonesia in 2015, and Singapore in 2016. 

While Leopalace21 increased the number of overseas offices to provide Japanese companies with reseidential and office space to support their overseas presence, the contraction of the domestic Japanese market happens to be another background factor in this expansion.

Having the offices in Vietnam, do you have plans to grow the business in terms of propety and golf? 

Vietnam with more than 90 millions people is of course one of our important markets. There are more and more Japanese people moving there. We have serviced appartments in Hanoi Vietnam. In the future, we will offer realtor services for offices, factories, and start property management. Also, as the golf community in Vietnam is growing very fast, we are considering sponsor big golf tournaments in the future. 

Thank you Mr Miyama, best wishes to you and Leopalace21!