Weekly roundup of job-hoppers, May 16
Adia lures infrastructure head from RREEF
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has hired John McCarthy as global head of infrastructure to replace Chris Koski, who joined Morgan Stanley earlier this year.
McCarthy is responsible for developing and implementing investment strategy for the infrastructure division. He oversees all day-to-day activities, including managing Adia’s portfolio, as well as originating and executing new infrastructure transactions.
Based in Abu Dhabi, he reports to Majed Al Romaithi, executive director for real estate and infrastructure at Adia, one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds.
The infrastructure division accounts for 1% to 5% of the total portfolio, says an Adia spokesman. The fund does not publish its assets under management, but the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute estimates they stand at between $700 billion and $750 billion, suggesting Adia runs $7–7.5 billion in infrastructure assets.
McCarthy joins from RREEF, Deutsche Bank's alternative investment arm, where he had been global head of infrastructure since 2005. Previously he worked at Dutch bank ABN Amro.
His predecessor Koski left in November and has since moved to Morgan Stanley, where he is head of investment strategy.
McCarthy’s intention to leave Deutsche Bank surfaced in February, following the restructuring of the group's asset and wealth management businesses, according to media reports. He has sinced been replaced by Hamish Mackenzie, head of Europe, and Asia-Pacific head Nadir Maruf.
PineBridge hires Middle East CIO
US fund house PineBridge Investments has named Wael Aburida as Middle East chief investment officer, a newly created role.
Focusing on the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, Bahrain-based Aburida will head the firm’s private equity and real estate team, overseeing deal origination, negotiations, execution, portfolio management and exits. He reports to Talal Al Zain, Middle East CEO.
Aburida joins from Abu Dhabi-based Waha Capital, where he was director of mergers and acquisitions. Previously he was director of the global M&A group for Intel Corporation, based in the firm’s California headquarters.
PineBridge’s Bahrain branch, which opened in mid-2012, serves large institutions and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Barclays shifts equity head to Hong Kong from Japan
Barclays is moving Nick Wright from Tokyo to Hong Kong to become Asia-Pacific head of equities. He replaces Mike Di Iorio, who is relocating to London for personal reasons.
Wright will retain his responsibilities as head of markets for Japan and head of Australia rates trading, and will also join the equities executive committee at Barclays.
He joined the British bank in October 2011 as head of global markets for Japan. Previously he held trading positions at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley and has managed portfolios, including co-founding and managing a long-only Australian equity fund.
Di Iorio joined Barclays from Nomura in 2010, at a time when the bank was rapidly expanding its equities business in the region.
UBS appoints equity co-heads
UBS appointed Shane Gunther and Taichi Takahashi as co-heads of equities for Asia Pacific. They replace CJ Beshke, who is retiring after more than 24 years with the Swiss bank.
Until this appointment, Gunther was head of cash sales for Asia Pacific, while Takahashi was co-head of equities trading for the same region. They have been with UBS since 1999 and 1994, respectively.
They will now work closely with Yoon Chi-Won, Asia-Pacific CEO, and Mike Stewart, head of global equities, as well as other members of the senior management team to identify new strategic opportunities.
Reporting to Stewart, they will also join the global equities executive committee and the Asia-Pacific executive committee.
Blackpeak adds advisers in Hong Kong and Singapore
Asia-focused advisory firm Blackpeak has made additions to its corporate investigations practice team for Greater China and its disputes practice in Southeast Asia.
Bobby Yeung, who will join the firm in Hong Kong on May 20, specialises in collecting and analysing background data on individuals and companies. He was previously a manager at due diligence group Blue Umbrella.
Vy Nguyen joined the company’s Singapore office in April as a Vietnam specialist. She was most recently a product manager at Citibank, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Blackpeak has made five hires in total to the Greater China corporate investigations team following the set-up of its Guangzhou office earlier this year.
The firm’s clients include private equity funds conducting pre-acquisition due diligence checks for potential fraud or corruption.
Other people moves news published this week on AsianInvestor.net:
White & Case's funds practice under pressure
Changes tipped as CIC names new chairman