UPDATE 1-M'bishi Estate ups special-purpose cos spend - Nikkei

June 16 (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Estate Co (8802.T) plans to raise its investments in special-purpose companies to about 190 billion yen ($1.93 billion) by the end of March 2010, up 5 percent from a year ago, the Nikkei business daily reported.

"This is one way to use special-purpose companies in order to be involved in developing properties down the road without increasing debt," the daily quoted Keiji Kimura, Mitsubishi Estate president, as saying.

Special-purpose companies are paper firms established with particular goals, such as owning real estate. When property is owned through such an entity, the real estate is not included on consolidated accounts and does not need to be booked as an asset on balance sheets.

The firm snapped up properties like the Resona Maruha Building in Tokyo's Marunouchi district last fiscal year through its special-purpose firms, the daily said.

Mitsubishi Estate's special-purpose companies had assets of roughly 824 billion yen as of March-end, up 39 percent on the year, it added. ($1=98.25 Yen) (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Ratul Ray Chaudhuri)