Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 21
Ontario Teachers seeks new Asia head
Ontario Teachers, Canada’s largest pension fund, is seeking a new managing director for Asia Pacific, as Nicole Musicco is relocating to Toronto.
Musicco will return to Toronto on January 1 next year to replace Wayne Kozun as senior vice-president for public equities. Kozun will leave the institution this month, having joined in 1995.
The C$171 billion ($129 billion) fund said Musicco's successor would be announced at a later date.
Asked whether the organisation was seeking to make an internal promotion or external hire, a spokesman replied in an email that “nothing is off the table at this stage”.
Musicco joined Ontario Teachers in 2002 as a member of the private capital team. She led the set-up of the Hong Kong office in 2013 and relocated to the city last year.
She oversees the full cycle of origination, analysis, value creation and execution of investment activities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Vanguard shuffles Asia leadership
The Asia ex-Japan head of Vanguard, the second-largest global fund house by assets, is moving back to the US, sparking a leadership shake-up in the region.
Shelly Painter (pictured left) will leave her post at the end of the year to head the firm’s enterprise risk management division. She has led the Asia business since 2011, having joined Vanguard in 2009.
David Cermak, Tokyo-based head of Japan since 2013, will take on Painter’s former duties in addition to his current post. Cermak joined the firm as head of US brokerage in 2007.
In another change, Charles Lin, head of greater China and head of Asia sales, will become head of China. The switch is not a demotion, but an indication of Vanguard's increased interest in expanding into the mainland, said a spokeswoman.
“Charles has been instrumental in developing a China distribution strategy over the past five years,” she told AsianInvestor. “He will assume a new role as head of China, where he will take on full responsibility for mainland China’s buildout.”
Bill McNabb, chief executive of Vanguard, told AsianInvestor earlier this month that the company aimed to expand its presence in China, which could include setting up a wholly foreign-owned enterprise to distribute funds onshore and adding a representative office in Shanghai to the existing one in Beijing.
Along with overseeing Vanguard’s buildout in China, Lin will join the international leadership team, which oversees all Vanguard’s non-US operations.
Both he and Cermak report to James Norris, London-based managing director for international operations.
Fidelity promotes Daisy Ho to newly created post
Fidelity International has named Daisy Ho as managing director for Asia ex-Japan, a newly created role overseeing the firm’s institutional, intermediary and defined contribution business in the region.
Based in Hong Kong, Ho (pictured right) was previously head of institutional business for Asia ex-Japan and reports to Mark Talbot, managing director for Asia Pacific.
The firm's existing business lines in the region will not change. Dominic Wong, head of intermediary business for Northeast Asia, and KP Luk, head of defined contribution for Hong Kong, will report to Ho.
Fidelity created the new post to reflect the convergence in needs between wholesale distributors and institutional clients.
“Across all markets we are observing that wholesale distributors are expecting services that are more complex, customised and similar to standards demanded by institutional clients,” said Talbot in a release.
Fidelity International, originally an affiliate of US-based fund house Fidelity Management and Research but now an independent business, managed $272 billion in assets globally as of June.
Jupiter hires to build EM debt offering
London-based Jupiter Asset Management has hired Alejandro Arevalo as a fund manager to build out its emerging-market debt capabilities, effective in November. He will move into this newly created role from Pioneer Investments, where he worked for four years as an EM corporate debt portfolio manager.
Jupiter has been looking to hire in this area for some time. Asia-Pacific head Peter Swabreck told AsianInvestor in July 2014 that the firm was eyeing EM debt as a new capability. Chief executive Martin Slendebroek reiterated this interest in May last year, noting that it was hard to find good talent for the asset class.
Arevalo will report to Ariel Bezalel, head of Jupiter’s bond team, and work with Katharine Dryer, head of investments, to develop the EM debt capability. They are all based in London.
Arevalo’s former responsibilities at Pioneer will be spread across the EM fixed income team, said the firm. Prior to this, Arevalo had worked at Standard Bank Asset Management, Gibraltar Bank and the International Bank of Miami.
Korea’s MBK Partners loses Kung
Kung Kuo-Chuan is leaving Korean private equity firm MBK Partners, a person familiar with the move told FinanceAsia, a sister publication to AsianInvestor.
The departure of the prominent dealmaker, known as KC, comes as MBK seeks to raise its biggest ever fund, at $4 billion, for deals across North Asia.
He is taking a career break and looking to start a new venture, the source said. It is unclear how Kung's exit will affect investors’ perceptions of the firm.
One of MBK’s founding partners, Kung was also head of Greater China. He led the nine-strong Shanghai office.
Prior to joining MBK, he was the head of PE giant Carlyle’s Shanghai office. Michael Kim, the founding partner of MBK, is another Carlyle alumnus.
Before entering private equity Kung worked at management consultancy McKinsey in Hong Kong and New York.
State Street names new Asia alternatives chief
State Street has lured back Aisling Keane as Asia-Pacific head of alternative investment solutions (AIS), effective October 20. Based in Hong Kong, she leads the regional servicing business covering hedge funds, private equity and real estate.
Keane replaces Bob Keogh, who has returned to Ireland to head State Street’s AIS business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Keogh replaced Patrick Hayes, who left the company in June to become UK head of BNP Paribas Securities Services.
Keane reports to Boston-based Scott Carpenter, global co-head of hedge fund administration; Paul Fleming, Boston-based global head of hedge funds for AIS; and Ian Martin, Hong Kong-based head of global services and global exchange business for Asia Pacific.
Keane returns to State Street after three years at BNP Paribas Securities Services and Credit Suisse. She was most recently Asia-Pacific head of hedge fund services at BNPP SS, which declined to comment on her departure.
Prior to these roles, Keane worked at State Street for 16 years across Dublin and Hong Kong, including as Asia-Pacific head of international fund services.
RBC Investor & Treasury Services appoints Kriesel
RBC Investor & Treasury Services, part of Royal Bank of Canada, has hired Rosemarie Kriesel as managing director for global client coverage for Hong Kong, a newly created role.
She reports to Andrew Gordon, managing director for Asia at RBC Investor & Treasury Services, who had previously overseen her remit.
Kriesel (pictured right) previously worked for BNY Mellon as country executive for Hong Kong and in client management, and left the firm in February this year. She worked in Luxembourg, Bermuda and Canada before moving to Hong Kong in 1993.
At BNY Mellon, Sammi Cho, chief operating officer for Asia Pacific, has assumed Kriesel's Hong Kong chief responsibilities. Client coverage continues to be supported by the client management team under the leadership of Gregory Roath, Asia-Pacific head of global client management, said a spokeswoman.
Credit Suisse appoints Thailand market head
Credit Suisse Private Banking has hired Urs Grueter as managing director and market group head for Thailand. He will replace Christian Senn in January, when the latter will take leave of absence for up to one year for family reasons, said an internal memo.
Joining on October 24, Grueter will work with Senn during the transition period and report to Benjamin Cavalli, head of Southeast Asia for private banking.
Grueter joins us from UBS Wealth Management where he worked for 17 years, mainly in Singapore, most recently as one of the Southeast Asia international heads. He has covered Southeast Asia for most of his career. It is understood that he will not be directly replaced at UBS and that his duties will be assumed by the rest of the team.
Senn has been the market lead for Thailand since 2014 and was instrumental in launching Credit Suisse’s new wealth business in the country earlier this year as reported.
A 27-year veteran of Credit Suisse Private Banking, Senn is committed to returning to the bank, said the memo.
Henderson and Janus decide on fixed income head
Henderson Global Investors and Janus Capital have agreed that Kumar Palghat will become global head of fixed income of the combined group following the merger of the two asset managers. He will remain based in Australia.
Phil Apel, head of fixed income at Henderson, will be managing director of fixed income at the new entity, Janus Henderson Global Investors. The deal was announced this month and is expected to complete in April next year.
Palghat had joined Janus last summer as a co-manager alongside Bill Gross on his former Pimco colleague’s global unconstrained bond fund. But Palghat switched in August this year to oversee the development of Janus Capital’s first actively managed exchange-traded bond fund.
Fixed income accounts for 23% of the overall $322 billion assets under management of Henderson and Janus.
Paghat began his career in 1988 at the World Bank and joined Pimco in 1997. He spent almost 10 years with the firm, including a stint as head of Asia-Pacific portfolio management while based in Sydney, before forming Kapstream in 2006.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week: