Ontario Teachers boosts equities team

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) has added Dan Kiang in Hong Kong as a director in relationship investing, focusing on direct equity investments across Asia.

He joins the C$140.8 billion ($125 billion) Canadian retirement fund from US alternative asset manger Mount Kellett, where he was a managing director, and has 13 years of experience investing in Asia.

Kiang reports to Mike Wissell, senior vice president for public equities in Toronto, and works alongside Fady Abdel-Nour, principal in the Hong Kong relationship investing team and senior associate Tan Xiao.

OTPP's public equities team in Asia is now three-strong. Relationship investing is a sub-division of the team focusing on long-term big-ticket deals of $200 million and up with a time horizon of five to seven years.

The fund also has investment staff in Hong Kong working for Teachers Private Capital, its private equity unit.

The fund officially open the Asia office in September last year, but received approvals and started hiring before that, in the first half of the year. It has since been moving to build its exposure to Asia and other emerging markets.

Kiang began his career with Merrill Lynch in New York as an investment banker and was also a director at Merrill Lynch in Asia, where he was responsible for its corporate principal investments in the Greater China region.

Mount Kellett could not be reached for comment by press time as to whether he had been replaced.