Tomohiro Araki Nomura Securities Co.

After two years in first place, Tomohiro Araki of Nomura Securities Co. slips to second. He reports on 19 real estate investment trusts, and his outlook is positive. “The current valuation of REITs is attractive if we consider the management environment of REITs and the possibility of deregulation,” Araki says. Numbers support his optimism: At the end of February, the weighted average dividend yield for REITs was 5.37 percent — 440 basis points higher than that of the ten-year Japanese government bond, according to Japan’s Association for Real Estate Securitization. “The last time the yield and the spread reached this level was in January 2010, when the real estate industry — including REITs — was in the grip of a credit crunch,” Araki explains. Investors are impressed. “His reports include various aspects of investment themes that are very beneficial for us, and he provides detailed fundamental data about the property sector,” says one.  — Leslie Kramer