Weekly roundup of people news, June 2
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AVIVA INVESTORS APPOINT NEW HEAD FOR SUSTAINABLE OUTCOMES
Aviva Investors has appointed former BlackRock’s director of sustainable investing Sam Tripuraneni as its head of sustainable outcomes with effect from May 16, a company statement said on Tuesday (May 31).
Based in London and reporting to Mirza Baig, global head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments, he will oversee an eight-person team and be responsible for the firm’s stewardship and sustainable outcomes franchises, encompassing climate transition, social transition, and natural capital transition suite of strategies.
He will lead on enhancing the existing sustainable strategies’ philosophy and processes, related data and quantitative research models, and the quantification and delivery of sustainability impacts.
He will also be responsible for overseeing ESG thematic research and the integration across liquid market asset classes, as well as play a key role in the development of new sustainability and impact strategies.
Prior to joining, he spent seven years at BlackRock as director of its sustainable investing team, where he worked closely with investment and client business teams to develop investment solutions to meet environmental, social, and financial objectives. Before that, he was a relationship manager in the UK defined contribution sales team. He served in the British Army as a captain before joining the financial services industry.
MANULIFE IM FORMER ASIA CRO JOINS VALUE PARTNERS
Manulife Investment Management’s chief risk officer (Asia) Samuel Sun has joined Value Partners Group as managing director, chief risk officer, effective Monday (May 30), to replace David Wong, who stepped down to retire in late March soon after joining the firm on February 28 from BlackRock, Value Partners announced on Monday.
Based in the Hong Kong headquarters, Sun will be responsible for managing and overseeing the overall risk management function across the group’s Hong Kong headquarters and overseas offices. He will also provide leadership in enterprise risk management of the group. He reports to the group’s president June Wong.
Sun is a seasoned industry executive with over 25 years of experience in risk management. He joins Value Partners from Manulife Investment Management, where he was the chief risk officer (Asia) and developed the company’s overall risk management framework and operations across offices in the region. Before joining Manulife, he held senior roles in risk management at Allianz Global Investors and HSBC Investments (Hong Kong).
Chris Cheng, head of risk, wealth and asset management, Asia, Manulife, joined in February 2021 to take over from Sun, who departed the company in the same month, Manulife Investment Management told AsianInvestor.
BLACKSTONE CREDIT EXPANDS PRESENCE IN ASIA
Blackstone on Monday (May 30) announced the appointment of Mark Glengarry as head of Asia Pacific origination, Blackstone Credit, a newly created role, as it continues to expand the BXC business in Asia. Glengarry joins the Blackstone Credit (BXC) team, adding to the existing Blackstone platform in Asia Pacific.
The BXC Asia Pacific team will be led by Paulo Eapen, head of Blackstone Credit’s European business who recently took on the additional responsibility to lead BXC in the region.
Glengarry, who started in March, will be based in Sydney. Blackstone Credit will hire more people to build out the team across the region to expand its presence but there are no specific targets on roles or cities, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Glengarry joins Blackstone from private equity firm Anchorage Capital Group LLC, where he was a managing director in the London and Sydney offices, helping manage private investments across the credit, special situations, and illiquid areas, in Europe and Asia Pacific. He was also previously with Morgan Stanley in the investment banking division and White & Case as a partner in the banking and finance practice.
MUFG APPOINTS NEW APAC HEAD
MUFG Bank (MUFG) has appointed Daisuke Ejima as the regional executive for Asia Pacific with effect from June 1. Ejima’s appointment will see him relocate to Singapore, his second time in his MUFG career, where he will be overseeing the bank’s businesses and operating platforms across 18 markets in the region.
Ejima is replacing Takanori Sazaki who left the role as regional executive for Asia Pacific on 1 April 2022. Sazaki has returned to London to take on his previous role as the regional executive for EMEA, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Prior to this appointment, Ejima was country head of Indonesia for MUFG Jakarta Branch, a role he has held since January 2018. MUFG will announce his replacement shortly, the spokesperson said.
A career banker with MUFG, Ejima has over 30 years of experience, predominantly in corporate banking. Before taking on country head responsibilities for MUFG Jakarta Branch, he was deputy general manager of corporate banking division for Asia and Oceania since March 2015. He was based in Singapore and managed the corporate banking business with global and regional clients in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Ejima also has extensive knowledge of MUFG’s corporate banking franchise in the Americas, having worked in the bank’s US corporate banking group out of New York in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Ejima also served as the head of global HR office at MUFG’s headquarters in Tokyo between 2011 to 2015. At the early stages of his career, he briefly left MUFG to serve as section chief of Japan’s Ministry of Finance’s international research department, custom and tariff bureau, before rejoining the bank in 1996.
CAPITAL GROUP HIRES FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES MD
Investment company Capital Group has appointed Suyin Tan as managing director, financial intermediaries for Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Based in Singapore, Tan will lead the financial intermediary sales team in Singapore and Southeast Asia, drive its distribution strategy and work on strengthening existing relationships with Capital Group’s financial intermediary clients in the region. Tan reports to Jeik Sohn, head of client group, Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Tan has experience in asset management and distribution sales, most recently as an executive director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Prior to her nine-year venture at Goldman Sachs, she spent 13 years at Henderson Global Investors serving as a director based in Singapore where she led their retail distribution strategy.
HSBC ASSET APPOINTS NEW ASIA HEAD OF MULTI-ASSET
HSBC Asset Management (HSBC AM) announces that it has appointed Yiğit Onat as head of multi-asset, Asia, effective June 20. Based in Hong Kong, Onat will report functionally to Jean Charles Bertrand, global multi-asset chief investment officer, and locally to Cecilia Chan, Asia Pacific chief investment officer.
Subject to regulatory approval, Onat will be responsible for the multi-asset team in Hong Kong, which manages HSBC AM’s flagship life cycle, income and MPF multi-asset solutions. He will lead a team of six multi-asset investment professionals located in Hong Kong and be supported by more than 70 professionals in 14 countries and territories.
Onat will succeed Denis Gould, who currently leads the multi-asset and wealth team in Hong Kong and will retire from HSBC AM on August 31.
Onat brings with him over 20 years of investment experience, most recently as chief investment officer for HSBC AM Turkey where he led a team of 10 portfolio managers and investment analysts, focusing on globally diversified wealth management and multi-asset investment funds for pension and insurance companies. Prior to that, he was head of equities in Turkey and lead manager of the HSBC GIF Turkey Equity Fund.
PineBridge has announced that Ana Dhoraisingam, chief executive of Singapore and head of institutional sales, Southeast Asia, has decided to leave the firm for another opportunity, effective end-July, according to a company spokesperson.
The firm said it has begun a search for her replacement. In the interim, Dhoraisingam, who has been with the firm for about 7 years, will hand over her institutional business development responsibilities to Clint Grobler, head of Australia & Asia institutional sales ex-Japan & Taiwan, and the broader Singapore sales team.
Prior to PineBridge, she was head of business development for Southeast Asia and chief executive Singapore at Pimco for about 4 years. She also formerly worked for ANZ and HSBC among other organisations.
The firm also announced the retirement of Ana Fan, head of client service, Asia, whose last day will be June 30. Her duties will be handled by the broader team while an external search for her replacement is underway, said the spokesperson. Fan, who has 25 years of industry experience, has been with the company for about 10 years.
COLLIERS APPOINTS HEAD OF ENTERPRISE MARKET SOLUTIONS
Real estate investment firm Colliers has appointed Patrick Gidney as head of enterprise market solutions, occupier services Asia, effective immediately, the firm announced on Tuesday (May 31).
Based in Singapore and reporting to Abhishek Bajpai, managing director, occupier services Asia, Gidney will be responsible for leading the enterprise market solutions division for Asia and will collaborate with market leaders across the region to further develop Colliers’ occupier services business. He will invest in client relationships with multinationals to establish and develop their portfolios, as well as focus on providing strategic real estate advice to corporate occupiers across the Asia Pacific region.
Gidney replaced Michael Bowens, who was promoted to head of industrial for Asia in January, the firm told AsianInvestor.
Gidney joined Colliers in 2021 and has more than 18 years of commercial real estate experience with a proven track record of delivering exceptional results to clients in lease acquisitions, renewals, lease restructures, disposals and flex space advisory. He is also a strong advocate of ESG and has recently completed his accreditation in sustainability leadership.