Asia property fund president leaves LaSalle IM

Earlier this month, David Edwards left his post as president of LaSalle Investment Management’s Asia Property Fund and is currently on garden leave.

Edwards' LinkedIn page notes his current status as ‘director, private’, but when contacted, he said he could not yet discuss his next move.

Edwards had been with LaSalle in Hong Kong for eight years, most recently at regional director level, having joined as regional investment strategist for Asia-Pacific in 2004.

Asked whether he had been or would be replaced, a spokeswoman for LaSalle IM says the firm does not comment on staff moves.

Before moving to the asset manager, Edwards had been head of fund management services at Hongkong Land for four years and prior to that a direct at Jones Lang LaSalle. He also worked at property firm Brooke Hillier Parker from 1994 to 1997.

LaSalle describes the Asia Property Fund, which launched in 2006, as a “core fund investing in a diversified portfolio of real estate assets across Asia-Pacific”. The firm’s other commingled funds include Asia Opportunity Funds, Japan Logistics Funds and an Asia Recovery Fund.

LaSalle IM had $47.7 billion in real estate assets under management globally as of September 30, of which $8.9 billion was in Asia-Pacific. By far the biggest chunk of that (58%) was in Japan, followed by Australia (17%) and Singapore (10%).

The firm has some 200 staff located in the region across Brisbane, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney.