Weekly roundup of people news, Jan 29
KHIEM DO, TRACY LAU AND OTHERS EXIT BARINGS
Barings’ Asia business has seen three senior departures in recent weeks, most notably those of multi-asset veteran Khiem Do and Tracy Lau, head of Greater China and Southeast Asia institutional sales.
Andrew Lee, formerly Hong Kong-based client portfolio manager for Asian and Chinese equities, is also leaving the asset manager and will join US fund house Capital Group (see story below).
His last day will be January 31, said a spokesman for Barings, which is owned by US insurer MassMutual. He declined to comment on whether Lee would be replaced.
Do’s regulatory licence with Barings in Hong Kong ceased on December 31, and his LinkedIn page lists him as a private investor. He did not respond to an request for comment sent via LinkedIn.
Do had spent nearly 25 years with the fund manager, mostly as head of Asia multi-asset and had been head of Greater China investments since January 2019.
Lau’s last day was January 22 and Barings is seeking a replacement, said the spokesman. Multiple sources said Lau would join an alternative investment house, but AsianInvestor could not ascertain which one.
Lau has been with Barings in Hong Kong since April 2011, before which she was an institutional client servicing executive at BlackRock. She did not respond to a request for comment sent via LinkedIn.
Meanwhile investment analyst John In has moved on from Barings as of December 23. He has joined Hong Kong-based Oxbow Capital Management on January 20, according to his regulatory licence. Oxbow could not be reached in time for comment. Barings declined to comment on whether he had been or would be replaced.
Despite the departures, Barings continues to invest in focus areas across Asia Pacific, a spokesman told AsianInvestor. For instance, John Ratcliffe joined in June as its first Asia Pacific head of real estate, while Karan Talwar started in October as a client portfolio manager
CAPITAL GROUP HIRES CLIENT PM FROM BARINGS
Andrew Lee, formerly a client portfolio manager for Asian and Chinese equities at Barings, will join US fund house Capital Group as an investment director covering global equities on February 1, said a spokeswoman. She could not immediately provide details of whether he had replaced anyone.
Lee will leave Barings on January 31, having worked there for four years. Before that he was a product specialist for Asian and Greater China equities at HSBC Global Asset Management.
ABERDEEN STANDARD NAMES NEW APAC CEO AND CHAIRMAN
Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) has appointed René Buehlmann as Asia Pacific chief executive, effective from March 1, to succeed long-standing incumbent Hugh Young.
Young will take on a new role as chairman for Asia, 35 years after joining the firm and having set up its regional headquarters in Singapore in 1992. He will provide strategic counsel to Buehlmann.
Buehlmann will also be based in Singapore, and both he and Young will report to Stephen Bird, chief executive of Standard Life Aberdeen, a company spokeswoman said.
Previously, Buehlmann was the head of Asia Pacific at UBS Asset Management. He left the Swiss firm in January last year when his sabbatical leave ended and was replaced by Raymond Yin.
NIKKO AM REPLACES KOREA INSTITUTIONAL SALESMAN
Japan's Nikko Asset Management has appointed Chung Kyung-il to replace Kang Taejong as Hong Kong-based institutional sales director for Korean clients, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Chung is understood to be set to take up the role in February. He was previously an associate director, covering Korean institutions at HSBC Global Asset Management, where his regulatory licence ended in November.
AsianInvestor could not reach Chung for comment, and both HSBC and Nikko AM declined to comment.
The appointment follows two other hires to Nikko AM's business development team in Hong Kong in September. Mitchelle Zhou joined the Japanese firm as head of China and Hong Kong institutional business, having formerly been head of China at Dutch fund house Robeco. Joe Yip was brought in from Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing as an exchange-traded fund specialist.
EURIZON CAPITAL ADDS ASIA SALES HEAD
Eurizon Capital, the asset management business of Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo Group, has added to its Hong Kong headcount with the hire of Dickson Man as head of Asia distribution, effective January 4.
The newly created role reflects the company’s increased focus on building its presence in the region and follows the addition of members to its Asia investment and operations team last June, according to an announcement. Man reports to Sean Debow, Asia chief executive of Eurizon Capital, who is also based in Hong Kong.
Sales activities for Asia were headed by an internal sales team in Luxembourg prior to Man's appointment, according to a spokesperson.
Man joined from US fund house T. Rowe Price, where he was a relationship manager, according to his LinkedIn profile. A spokesperson for T. Rowe Price said he has not yet been replaced but would be in due course. His responsibilities have been absorbed by the existing team in the interim. Before joining T. Rowe Price in 2016, Man worked at BlackRock and NinetyOne in Hong Kong.
PAUL BARR LEAVES GIC FOR PANTHEON
Paul Barr has left the infrastructure team of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC to join British alternative investment manager Pantheon as partner on the global infrastructure and real asset team.
He will start in London and will later move to San Francisco to take up a senior leadership role in 2021 or early 2022.
Barr had been on GIC's infrastructure team for eight years, first in London then Singapore. The sovereign wealth fund declined to comment on who would replace him. Previously, he worked at Australian firms Challenger and Macquarie Bank.
UK property developer Grosvenor has appointed Kozo Hiratani as president of its Japan business.
Hiratani will assume his role on February 1. He will also join Grosvenor's Asia Pacific board and become an executive committee member. He reports to Benjamin Cha, chief executive of Grosvenor Asia Pacific, who is based in Hong Kong.
Hiratani has replaced Daniel Cox, who was former managing director and chief representative of the Japan business. He left Grosvenor at the end of March 2020. AsianInvestor could not ascertain where he works now.
The new role of president will encompass a broader array of responsibilities, including spearheading the Japan business and strategy execution
Hiratani was previously with Mitsui Fudosan Investment Advisors before joining Grosvenor. The firm declined to comment on his departure.
EASTSPRING ADDS SALES EXECUTIVE IN NORTH AMERICA PUSH
Singapore-based Eastspring Investments, the fund management arm of insurer Prudential Corporation Asia, has appointed Craig Mauri as director of client development in Chicago, effective January 1.
Mauri reports to Boston-based Matthew Appelstein, Eastspring's Americas head, and covers asset owners and investment consultants in the western half of the US and Canada. The appointment is a newly created role and part of Eastspring’s efforts to grow its presence in the US, a spokesperson said.
Mauri has been a consultant for institutional business development at Eastspring since February 2020. As this was a contract role, the firm is not seeking a replacement.
Prior to Eastspring, Mauri held senior consultant relations and business development roles at firms including Fidelity Investments, Columbia Management, Calamos Advisors and Aegon Asset Management.
As part of its US push, the firm had also appointed Brian Manders as manager of client services and sales support in April 2020. Manders joined from real estate investment management firm Heitman and also reports to Appelstein.
TRILAKE PROMOTES COO TO PARTNER
Singapore-based asset manager Trilake Partners has promoted Patrick Lauener to partner, effective January 22.
Lauener, who is chief operating officer and a member of the investment committee, joined TriLake in 2013 to strengthen the founding team under chief executive Lucie Hulme. She is still with the firm, as is the firm's other partner, according to the company's website.
BUTTERFIELD NAMES NEW TRUST TEAM HEAD IN ASIA
Butterfield Group, a Bermuda-headquartered bank and wealth management firm, has named Mark Farrell as its new head of trust business for Asia.
He joined the firm in December and reports to Mark Florance, Singapore-based head of Asia. A spokeswoman told AsianInvestor this was a newly created role for business expansion. She declined to comment on who previously looked after the Asia's trust business or where Farrell joined from.
Meanwhile, Amy Glover joined Butterfield in London on January 4 as vice president of strategic relationships for group trust business. Her role was created to meet the needs of high-net-worth families internationally, the spokeswoman added.
Glover reports to Paul Hodgson, deputy head of group trust based in Guernsey. She was most recently the global director of private clients for UK-based legal publication Legal Week.
500 STARTUPS APPOINTS REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR APAC
Silicon Valley venture capital firm 500 Startups has promoted Lim Ee Ling to Asia Pacific director, effective January 1.
Based in Singapore, Lim leads business development for corporate and startup innovation programmes in the region. Prior to her appointment she had been 500 Startups' Singapore country lead, since joining in September 2019.
As regional director, Lim will continue to oversee Singapore, reporting to San Francisco-based Thomas Jeng, head of global business development. The responsibilities of the new regional role were previously handled by Jeng.
Lim began her career in investment banking with appointments at CIMB and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, before leaving to launch her own edutech startup.
IQ-EQ FORMS REAL ESTATE TEAM IN ASIA
IQ-EQ, a service provider for alternative investment managers, has formed a dedicated real estate team in Asia.
Client services director Neil Synnott has relocated from Luxembourg to Singapore end last year to be in charge of driving IQ-EQ’s real estate strategy for the region. He reports to Jimmy Leong, Singapore-based chief commercial officer for Asia.
The firm also hired Denish Leang in the last quarter of 2020 as client services team manager, who takes responsibility for the day-to-day servicing of IQ-EQ Singapore’s real estate fund clients.
Leang was formerly a Singapore-based manager within PwC’s financial services asset and wealth management division, specialising in private equity and real estate. PwC confirmed that he worked for the company before but declined to comment further.
There are now 13 members in the new real estate team for Asia. IQ-EQ is currently hiring for all levels in Singapore and expects the team to double in size over the course of 2021, a company spokeswoman said.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week: