TOKYO, March 26 (Reuters) - Hillhouse Investment has

hired co-heads for its Japan real estate investment business, a

source familiar with the matter said, as it bulks up its

operations there.

Hillhouse has hired Jeremy Bleackley and Wataru Goto as

co-heads of Japan for Rava Partners, the source said. The two

join from Blackstone where they were managing directors

of the Real Estate Group.

The source declined to be named as the information is not

public.

Hillhouse is expanding in Japan, which has become a focus

for investors as a drive to improve corporate governance

encourages asset sales and take-private transactions.

Hires by Hillhouse include Tomohiro Kikuta, a former partner

at Bain Capital, and Wern-Yuen Tan, a former executive at

PepsiCo ( PEP ).

Its investments in Japan include real estate developer Samty

Holdings and restaurant software business Dinii.