GIC promotes group CIO to CEO in reshuffle
Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC has promoted group chief investment officer Lim Chow Kiat to the newly created role of chief executive, as part of a management reshuffle.
Group president Lim Siong Guan will retire and be appointed adviser to the group executive committee on January 1. He has led GIC since 2007.
Jeffrey Jaensubhakij will take over as group CIO, relinquishing his current role as deputy CIO and president for public markets.
All the changes will all take effect on January 1 and are seen to represent the next steps in the institution's succession plan.
They also come ahead of what GIC – and other sovereign wealth funds – expect to be a tough period in which to make investment returns.
Lim Chow Kiat said in the fund's annual report in July: “We expect a difficult investment environment with modest growth prospects, greater uncertainty and a high degree of volatility in the macro economy and markets. The long-term [20-year] returns in the coming years are likely to be significantly lower than what we saw since 1980.”
In other changes, Lim Kee Chong will remain as deputy CIO and director of the integrated strategies group, and take on the additional appointment of president for the Americas, based in New York.
Tay Lim Hock will be appointed deputy CIO and take on the concurrent appointment of president for Europe, based in London. He will also be adviser on private equity and infrastructure and relinquish his role as president of private equity and infrastructure.
Goh Kok Huat continues as chief operating officer, and has been given the additional title of adviser on real estate. He will relinquish his current role as president of real estate.
The previous investment responsibilities of Jaensubhakij, Tay and Goh will be taken over by five CIOs for respective areas, who were appointed on June 1. They are: Bryan Yeo King Ming for public equities, Liew Tzu Mi for fixed income, Choo Yong Cheen for private equity, Ang Eng Seng for infrastructure and Lee Kok Sun for real estate.
The titles of president of public markets, president of private equity and infrastructure and president of real estate will cease to be used.
Lim Chow Kiat has been group CIO since February 2013 and became deputy group president concurrently in June 2016.
GIC does not publish its assets under management, saying only that it manages well over $100 billion. The Sovereign Wealth Center estimates its AUM at $354 billion.