Ontario Teachers’ names new head of APAC
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers') has named Bruce Crane as the new executive managing director and head of the Asia Pacific (APAC), taking over from Ben Chan, who recently retired.
Crane’s appointment is effective immediately, and he will lead the $187.5 billion Canadian pension fund’s regional operations from its Singapore office.
Ontario Teachers'
In his new role, Crane will report to chief investment officer Ziad Hindo and be responsible for leading investment activities and portfolio management in APAC. This includes overseeing the Ontario Teachers' offices in Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Singapore. The organisation currently has more than 85 employees in the region.
Crane joined Ontario Teachers' in 2020 as the first employee in the Singapore office. Despite the challenges of the Covid-19 lockdown, he successfully established and staffed the office, expanding the organisation's presence in APAC.
Before his promotion, he was senior managing director for infrastructure and natural resources in APAC.
Crane has nearly thirty years of experience in public and private markets, investment banking, and advisory services in both APAC and the Americas.
“As head of APAC, Bruce will play a leading role as we continue to progress our global growth strategy and deepen our investment activities across the region,” said Hindo in an official statement.
“He has done an outstanding job over the last three years building our INR portfolio and team in the region. His extensive global experience, exceptional knowledge of the APAC region, and the strong relationships he has cultivated both inside and outside the Plan make him a natural choice for this expanded role.”
The Ontario Teachers' did not immediately respond to AsianInvestor’s query about who will replace Crane as senior managing director for infrastructure in the region.
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Ben Chan officially departed the fund last month, after leading the fund's regional investments as executive managing director and head of APAC for the last five years.
“Huge congratulations to Bruce Crane, who will be taking over the role! And my very best wishes to the very dear team that have built the business to date here in APAC!” Chan wrote in a Linkedin post coinciding with Ontario Teachers’ announcement.
Chan is responsible for having grown the Ontario Teachers’ assets in APAC almost four-fold to more than $16 billion during his tenure.
The fund now holds a strong portfolio of over 40 companies and funds managed by the APAC team, with investments across Greater China, India, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
Last year, some major investments took place under Chan’s leadership, which included acquiring a 70% interest in Spark New Zealand's mobile towers business; acquiring 2degrees Mobile's tower assets in New Zealand; investing in GPA Global, a premium packaging solutions company, providing additional funding to Princeton Digital Group, a pan-Asian data centre developer, and leading a financing round in Chinese e-commerce platform Ruigu.
Crane will now be responsible for leading Ontario Teachers’ in expanding its presence in Asia to access investment opportunities across its core regions.