Weekly roundup of people news, April 12
NORWAY SWF APPOINTS NEW HEAD OF SINGAPORE OFFICE
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) appointed Sumer Dewan as its new head of Singapore office in April, overseeing the fund’s Asia operations, the fund’s chief executive officer Nicolai Tangen announced on his LinkedIn recently.
NBIM is the manager of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway's Government Pension Fund Global. The fund’s Asia operations are carried out from Singapore, following its Shanghai office closure last year.
Dewan joined the fund’s Singapore office in 2011 as head of equity trading Asia. He became co-head of equity trading in January 2024, a role he will continue in even after becoming Singapore head, according to LinkedIn.
Dewan succeeds Sigmund Kyrdalen, who has been with NBIM for over 21 years and became head of Singapore office in 2010.
NBIM didn’t respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiry on the appointment as of publication.
TEMASEK LAUNCHES PARIS OFFICE
Singaporean state investor Temasek launched its new office in Paris earlier this week.
While there will be no Paris head per se, “Nagi Hamiyeh, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Benoit Valentin, deputy head of EMEA, head of partnership solutions and head of private equity fund investments and head of impact investing will work closely with the London, Brussels, and Paris teams to cover EMEA,” a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Hamiyeh was appointed to his role on April 1, succeeding Uwe Krueger, who has now taken on an advisory role of vice chairman of EMEA.
The new office brings Temasek’s global footprint to 13 offices across 9 countries.
"The EMEA team across the three offices (London, Brussels, Paris) has over 50 people, of which more than 35 are investment professionals,” the spokesperson said.
The Paris team comprises a mix of Temasek staff who have relocated as well as new hires, the spokesperson added.
Temasek focuses on direct equity, credit and private equity fund investments in EMEA.
GIC APPOINTS EQUITIES COO
Singapore’s GIC promoted Glien Tan to managing director and chief operating officer, public equities, effective April 1.
In his new role, Tan manages the equities operating model at the sovereign wealth fund. That covers business strategy, governance, performance management, budgeting, and global capability deployment.
Tan’s previous role was managing director and head of investment services management in equities.
GIC did not respond to AsianInvestor’s request for comment on whether Tan’s new role is newly created, and who will take over his previous role.
Tan has held various roles at GIC since 2006 and was previously with Credit Suisse.
AWARE REAL ESTATE HIRES NEW ESG HEAD
Aware Real Estate, the property investment arm of pension fund Aware Super, has appointed Emma Thomas as its new head of ESG, according to the company's LinkedIn.
She is based in Sydney.
Thomas brings over two decades of experience in ESG strategy.
Previously, Thomas served as the group environmental sustainability manager at Stockland and as the director of sustainability for property and Investment at Lendlease Americas.
Aware Real Estate didn not respond to an AsianInvestor query on whether this is a newly created role or if there was a previous ESG head.
Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT), the pension fund for Malaysia’s armed forces, appointed retired general Azizan bin Ariffin as its new chairman and Mohammad Ashraf Md Radzi as its new chief executive, effective 1 April 2024.
Azizan retired as chief of Malaysia’s defence forces in 2011 after a career in the country’s air force.
He replaces Mohamed Affandi Mohamed Noor who stepped down as chairman of LTAT, effective February 8.
The LTAT board of directors announced on January 31 that the fund’s chief executive Ahmad Nazim Abd Rahman departed the same day.
Mohammad Ashraf was previously chief financial officer (CFO) of LTAT since March 2020.
LTAT is currently looking for “suitable candidates” for the CFO role, as spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
B CAPITAL HIRES EX-TEMASEK EXCUTIVE FOR CLIMATE TEAM
B Capital appointed former Temasek executive Jeff Johnson as general partner to lead the firm’s growing climate investment team.
Johnson was previously managing director at the Singaporean state-owned investor leading the US-based sustainable investing team.
Based in the US, Johnson joined Temasek in June 2021 and was with the company for close to three years.
Kyung-Ah Park, head of ESG investment management and managing director of sustainability, leads the state-owned investor’s sustainability initiatives. Park is based in New York.
B Capital is co-founded by Eduardo Saverin, who is also co-founder of Facebook, now Meta.
It is a multi-stage global investment firm with more than $6 billion in assets under management across multiple funds.
BNP PARIBAS AM NAMES HEAD OF EMERGING MARKETS DEBT
BNP Paribas Asset Management promoted Alaa Bushehri to the role of head of emerging markets debt, effective March 1.
She is based in London and will directly report to Olivier de Larouzière, chief investment officer for fixed income.
Over the last 11 years, Bushehri has led the emerging markets corporates sector within the wider emerging markets debt team at BNP Paribas Group.
She joined BNP Paribas through its strategic partner FFTW, London, as a portfolio analyst in 2007.
Natixis Investment Managers (Natixis IM) appointed Mark Kwek as head of wholesale, Southeast Asia, responsible for leading the firm’s wholesale business in key markets across Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Kwek will be based in Singapore and report to Dora Seow, chief executive officer, Natixis IM Singapore.
He joined Natixis IM after almost 10 years with JP Morgan Asset Management in Singapore, where he was most recently executive director on the private wealth solutions team, responsible for developing business with private banks and family offices.
JP Morgan Asset Management didn’t respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiry on Kwek’s replacement.
JANA NAMES INVESTMENT TRUST HEADS
JANA Investment Advisers appointed Claire Simpson head of investments, investment trusts and promoted David Schnell to head of diversified portfolios, investment trusts.
Simpson was most recently co-head of infrastructure research at JANA.
Schnell joined JANA in 2017 and was most recently a senior investment consultant.
Both investment trusts leads will report to the firm’s general manager of investment trusts Leon Tisdell.
CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD CHANGES APAC SUSTAINABILITY BUSINESS
Real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) has restructured its Asia Pacific sustainability services business to focus on three regionally-led streams.
Alton Wong was appointed head of sustainability advisory, Asia Pacific.
Wong is based in Hong Kong and retains oversight for the Greater China sustainability services business in addition to driving the regional sustainability advisory business.
Ho Chee Kit was named director, net zero carbon assets, Asia Pacific. Ho is based in Singapore and is responsible for delivering engineering and technical services related to net-zero carbon assets.
Gehan Palipana was appointed head of sustainability program management, Asia Pacific.
Palipana is based in Brisbane and will retain oversight of the Australia and New Zealand sustainability services business in addition to his regional sustainability program management role.
The three roles are all newly created, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
All three report to Matt Clifford, head of sustainability, Asia Pacific.