Weekly roundup of people news, Dec 23
Editors' Note: This will be the last weekly roundup of people news for 2022. Our next edition will publish on January 6, 2023. We wish our readers a happy festive season.
CBUS MAKES BOARD CHANGES
Australian Cbus Super board directors Anne Donnellan and Frank O'Grady are set to step down, while a retiring union national secretary will return to the fund.
Donnellan will be replaced by Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national legal coordinator Abha Devasia.
Devasia will commence her term on the board in January.
Retiring Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) national construction secretary Dave Noonan will return to the Cbus board to replace O'Grady.
Noonan will re-join the board in April 2023.
Noonan was secretary of the CFMEU's construction division for over 15 years and was previously deputy chair of Cbus.
FTLIFE HIRES DEPUTY CIO FROM BOC LIFE
BOC Group Life Assurance’s former head of investment management Carol Mo has re-joined FTLife Insurance as deputy chief investment officer, working alongside new chief investment and asset liability management officer Richard Chan.
Mo re-joined FTLife from BOC Life in October. As deputy CIO, she will enhance the integrated ESG investment process in FTLife to align with the group’s objectives, the firm told AsianInvestor.
FTLife is under local business conglomerate New World Development.
Mo was head of investment management with Bank of China's Hong Kong life insurance business since June 2021, focusing on asset and liability management and ESG, working alongside CIO Alvin Ying.
BOC Life didn’t respond to AsianInvestor’s request for comments on Mo's replacement.
Mo has over 13 years of experience in Hong Kong’s insurance industry.
Prior to BOC Life, she spent almost five years with FTLife as head of investment management until May 2020. She was also with China Life Insurance Overseas for over seven years in several senior roles, including deputy general manager in the investment department.
HKEX OPENS NEW YORK OFFICE, APPOINTS HEAD
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) announced the opening of its New York office and appointed Roger McAvoy as managing director and head of business development, North America, to head the new office.
In his new role, McAvoy will continue to report to HKEX co-head of sales and marketing, Kevin Rideout.
The New York office will complement HKEX’s existing international reach from its offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore. It will promote HKEX’s liquid primary and secondary cash markets, its connectivity with mainland China’s markets and diverse suite of derivatives, the firm said.
McAvoy joined HKEX in August 2017. He helped launch HKEX’s Singapore office as head of Asean business development.
The bourse named Adeline Ee as managing director, head of sales and marketing, Asean, in April to succeed McAvoy, as he started transitioning to the New York office role.
Operating as HKEX (U.S.) LLC, the new office will build out its team over the coming months.
HKEX also has plans to open a European office. Further details will be announced in due course, the firm said.
NORTHERN TRUST HIRES QUANTITATIVE SPECIALIST FROM FRANKLIN TEMPLETON
Northern Trust Asset Management expanded its Melbourne-based team by hiring Matthew Lambert as head of quantitative portfolio management, Asia Pacific.
In the newly created role, Lambert will be responsible for bringing the firm’s quantitative solutions to institutional investors in Australia and New Zealand.
He reports to Mark Sodergren, portfolio manager, head of quantitative portfolio management, global, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Northern Trust has two offices in Australia - Melbourne and Sydney.
Lambert joins Northern Trust Asset Management from Martin Currie Australia, under the Franklin Templeton group until December 2022.
He joined the firm in 1997 as a quantitative analyst and had been a portfolio manager since 2006. Based in Melbourne, his last title was portfolio manager, Martin Currie Australia, Franklin Templeton told AsianInvestor.
Existing team members Naomi Bant, portfolio manager and Sam Li, portfolio manager, continue to be responsible for quantitative research.
Bant joined Martin Currie Australia in December 2006. Li joined Martin Currie Australia in January 2021, and alongside Matthew Davison are now the portfolio managers responsible for the firm’s active insights and tactical allocation strategy, the firm said.
MULTI-ASSET, EQUITY HEADS LEAVE MORNINGSTAR IN AUSTRALIA
Two Australia-based senior investment managers of Morningstar Investment Management - Brad Bugg, head of multi-asset portfolio management, and Peter Bull head of equities - have left the firm as it restructures its investment capabilities in that market, the firm confirmed to AsianInvestor.
This is to "bring clearer accountability and address some overlap in responsibilities", said the firm’s Asia-Pacific investment chief Matt Wacher.
Wacher has taken over Bugg's multi-asset role, and Vito Gala, Morningstar's global head of systematic strategies, will take over strategies previously managed by Bull.
Bugg joined Morningstar Australia in 2009 from Austock Asset Management, where he was an investment analyst.
Bull joined Morningstar in 2012 from Colonial First State, where he was a portfolio manager.
He left Morningstar in November, and has joined real estate firm Esme as a private investor, his LinkedIn profile shows.
Earlier in December, Morningstar said its manager selection sector would move into its investment team.
As a result, Morningstar's director of manager research for Asia Pacific, Tim Murphy, left after over 17 years with the firm.
PERPETUAL AM AUSTRALIA NAMES DEPUTY HEAD OF EQUITIES
Perpetual has appointed Anthony Aboud as deputy head of equities for Perpetual Asset Management Australia (PAMA).
He will continue to work closely with Vince Pezzullo - who in November was appointed head of equities - and the broader PAMA team.
Vince was promoted to the role in November and was previously deputy head. The previous head of equities, Paul Skamvougeras, stepped down from the role at the same time.
Aboud has more than 23 years of experience and has been with Perpetual since 2012.
Perpetual also appointed Louise Sandberg as senior equities analyst. Sandberg, who has more than 13 years experience in investment research roles, started her role in October.
Sandberg will cover large and small cap companies across property, discretionary consumer and consumer staples.
She was most recently with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore and Sydney, and has also previously worked with Goldman Sachs in New York and Hong Kong as well as Fidelity International in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Bank of America did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on Sandberg's replacement and when Sandberg left.
NORTHLEAF OPENS TOKYO OFFICE
Private market investments firm Northleaf Capital Partners has opened a new office in Tokyo, Japan, which will be led by Jeff Pentland.
Pentland is a founding partner of Northleaf and member of its investment committee.
Pentland, who is managing director and head of Apac, relocated to Tokyo from the Toronto office.
There are plans to build a local team in the region, a company spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
“We are seeing strong interest from investors across the APAC region in our private markets investment platform, including our global private credit strategy which offers investors access to high quality loans to mid-market businesses in North America and Europe, and our infrastructure strategy which provides access to mid-market assets in North America and select OECD jurisdictions,” the company said.
Pentland will continue to be involved in many of the same activities as he had been in Toronto – as a member of the firm’s investment committee and overseeing the origination, evaluation and monitoring of Northleaf’s private markets investments.
He is also chair of Northleaf’s ESG committee.
Tokyo is the ninth location in Northleaf’s global network of offices and is the second in Asia after Melbourne, Australia.
Gordon Brothers, an advisory, restructuring and investment firm, has promoted Samantha Findley to managing director, capital, to oversee lending and investment opportunities across industries in Australia and New Zealand.
Based in Sydney, Findley is responsible for transactions throughout the structuring, execution and portfolio life cycle.
She leads a team of finance and investment experts and works alongside the firm’s deals and origination team, and retail and commercial and industrial experts to support sourcing, structuring and identification of prospects.
Findley has 20 years of experience in financial and restructuring solutions.
She joined Gordon Brothers as capital director in July 2020 from National Australia Bank.
PROMOTIONS AT CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
Property consultant Cushman & Wakefield has named James Young and Gordon Marsden as head of investor services for Asia Pacific (Apac) and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Emea) and head of capital markets in Apac, respectively.
Young’ promotion to head of investor services in Apac is an expansion of the role that he icurrently holds in Emea. The expanded role will take effect from January 2023.
In Apac, Young will work closely with Dennis Yeo, head of investor services for logistics and industrial in Apac, and Marsden across the investor services’ business in the region.
The expansion of Young’s role to include Asia Pacific will better support Cushman & Wakefield’s clients and their capital allocation needs, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Young will continue to be based in London for the time being. He will have dual reporting lines to Matthew Bouw and Colin Wilson, chief executive officers of Apac and Emea, respectively.
Young has been with Cushman & Wakefield for 32 years and has held several leadership roles in Emea. He will sit on both the Emea and Apac executive committees.
As Apac head of capital markets, Marsden will lead the growth of the capital markets business in the region, working alongside Francis Li, chairman of the Apac capital markets board.
He will drive the firm’s capital markets strategy around regional clients and institutional investors and work with brokerage teams across Apac.
Marsden’s appointment is with immediate effect, and he will relocate to Singapore from Hong Kong and will report to Young. He joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2007.
Dennis Yeo continues as head of investor services and industrial and logistics for Apac as Cushman & Wakefield.
The Apac capital markets board continues to be chaired by Francis Li, who also leads the day-to-day capital markets operations in Greater China.
ARES MANAGEMENT NAMES MD FOR GLOBAL CLIENT SOLUTIONS
Ares Management has promoted Michael Chen to managing director for global client solutions, effective December, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He was previously principal and relationship manager in Asia based in Hong Kong at the company.
He has been with Ares since March 2019, according to the LinkedIn profile.
Ares did not respond to AsianInvestor’ queries on whether the role is newly created, whom Chen reports to and who will take over his former role.
Chen has previously worked at UBS, Invesco and AMP Capital Investors, according to the LinkedIn profile.
Ares is an alternative investment manager with about $341 billion of assets under management at the end of September.
FTLILFE HIRES CHIEF ACTUARY
FTLife appointed Danny Chow as chief actuary, reporting to deputy chief executive officer and chief financial officer Ellick Tsui.
Chow will be responsible for all aspects of actuarial reporting and management of the actuarial team.
He will also carry out statutory duties as appointed actuary in accordance with the Hong Kong insurance companies’ ordinance and applicable legislation.
FTLife did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on whether this is a newly created role or if Chow replaces anyone.
Chow comes from Chubb, where he was chief actuary, according to his Linkedin profile.
Chubb did not respond to AsianInvestor queries on when Chow left the firm or who replaced him.