* Newly acquired Asian arm keen on warehouses
* May consider investing in smaller Japanese cities (Adds details, quotes)
By Kevin Lim
SINGAPORE, May 19 (Reuters) - Invista Real Estate
Investment Management
Invista -- which last month acquired the Asian property fund management arm of Australia's Babcock & Brown -- said it was keen on these three cities because they had large commercial property markets that were increasingly transparent.
"We prefer to focus on these markets and get it right. When we are established, then we'll look at other strategies," Duncan Owen, the firm's chief executive officer, told Reuters in an interview.
Owen said Invista, Britain's largest listed property fund management group, was most interested in distribution and warehouse properties in Asia. It may also invest in offices since rents and values have fallen sharply in recent months.
He declined to comment on when Asian property markets will bottom, but said they will eventually recover and it was an opportune time for the firm to venture out of Europe into Asia.
"They (Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo) are badly affected now as everybody is, but that is part of the opportunity," he said. "It's not the end of the modern world and like all other cycles, the economies will recover."
Asked if Invista would consider other Asian markets, Owen said he might consider investing in "secondary cities in Japan" but would otherwise stick to Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, which he described as gateways into Asia.
Invista last month agreed to take over Babcock's Asian property unit in a no-cost deal that gave it a foothold in Hong Kong and Singapore with around 30 staff in total.
The British firm also acquired a Babcock fund that owned self-storage space in Hong Kong and Singapore under the "Big Orange" brand name.
Besides the two city-states, Invista also has a joint venture in Japan with a firm called Capital Realty, a former unit of Lehman Brothers that was bought out by staff several years ago.
Invista has about 6.3 billion pounds in assets under management, according to its website. (Editing by Lincoln Feast)