Hulic chairman recalls taking over a struggling property company

Saburo Nishiura moved from Mizuho Bank to lead a property company in 2006, after serving as the bank’s deputy president.

He had joined Fuji Bank, now part of Mizuho, when his father fell ill and he could no longer pursue his hope of becoming a journalist.

Nishiura says he wanted the freedom to make decisions as a company president and take responsibility for the results.

The company, then called Nihonbashi Kogyo, had bought property using large loans to help banks deal with bad debts, leaving it in financial trouble.

Its property income was not enough to repay its debts, and Japan’s Financial Services Agency viewed it as a problem company.

Nishiura later expanded the business with a focus on medium-sized office buildings near stations in central Tokyo; Nihonbashi Kogyo changed its name to Hulic in 2007.

He still owns his first purchase, a small building in Akihabara, to remember the difficult period; this account is the first of three installments.