Weekly roundup of people news, March 27
OMGI recruits EM debt specialist
John Peta has joined Old Mutual Global Investors (OMGI) as head of emerging market debt. London-based Peta joined OMGI on March 2 and reports to Christine Johnson, head of fixed income. In the newly-created role, Peta will manage the Old Mutual local currency emerging market debt fund from April 20.
Peta previously worked at Threadneedle Asset Management in London, where he was a fund manager and co-head of emerging market debt, alongside Henry Stipp. He worked at Threadneedle between October 2012 and February 2014. Peta has not been replaced and Stipp is now the sole head of EM debt at OMGI.
Threadneedle said it now has a team of 11 EM debt investment staff in its UK, US, Singapore and India offices.
Prior to Threadneedle, Peta worked at Merrill Lynch in Seattle; Chancellor LGT in San Francisco; and Standish Mellon AM and Arcadian AM, both in Boston.
Last week OMGI announced it had hired an Asia business veteran to advise on its regional expansion. Shanghai-based Simon MacKinnon has joined the company as a strategic advisor, after working and living in Asia for 30 years.
MacKinnon’s appointment followed OMGI’s creation last October of an Asian equities team headed by Josh Crabb and the recruitment the following month of specialist China equities portfolio manager Diamond Lee, as reported.
TPG hires MD for APAC operations
Private equity firm TPG Capital has hired Zubin Irani as a managing director in its Asia-Pacific operations group. Irani joined on March 20 and is set to relocate from New Delhi to Singapore in April.
Irani’s hire fills a role previously performed by an executive focused on talent management – identifying individuals to work in operational roles at companies that TPG has invested in. Irani’s role has been expanded to include taking on operational roles within portfolio companies himself as well as the talent management remit.
Irani joins from United Technologies Corp (UTC) where he worked between March 2010 and March 2015, most recently as India head and president of UTC’s building and industrial systems division. Prior to that Irani worked for Carrier Corp (January 2005-March 2010) and consulting firm McKinsey & Co (November 1998-January 2005).
Stoxx hires regional director for Australia, NZ
Index provider Stoxx has appointed Jonathan Morgan as regional director for Australia and New Zealand. In that role, Morgan heads a new Sydney office, opened on March 24, which for now will be staffed by Morgan alone according to a spokeswoman for the firm. Australia was previously covered from Stoxx’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices.
Morgan reports to Stoxx’s Asia-Pacific head Shirley Low. He joins Stoxx from S&P Dow Jones Indices (SPDJI), where he was responsible for channel management across all client groups in Australia. A spokesman for SPDJI said that “currently we are in the process of identifying suitable candidates” to replace Morgan. Before joining SPDJI, Morgan worked for the Australian Securities Exchange.
MD to run MCAM's new Hong Kong office
Alternative assets placement agent MCAM Group has hired James Han as Asia managing director. Han started work at Geneva-based MCAM on March 20, and the firm announced the new hire on March 25. It also announced that it is opening its first office in Asia, based in Hong Kong. Han will be relocating from Seoul to run the office, which is scheduled to open in early April. Han will report directly to MCAM founder Lars Bjoergerd.
Han joins from KTB Investment & Securities where he was group head of private placement services. He joined Seoul-based KTB in June 2014. Prior to that Han worked for hedge funds Straight Wharf Capital Management (2010-12), Balyasny Asset Management (2007-09) and Tiedemann Global Emerging Markets (2003-06). He started his career with Jardine Fleming Securities in Seoul, where he worked between 1997-2000.
PE specialist joins Weil
Law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges has recruited Tim Gardner as a partner in its Hong Kong office. Gardner, who joined on March 23, focuses on private equity and merger & acquisition (M&A) transactions as he did at his previous law firm in Hong Kong, namely Latham & Watkins, where he also was a partner. The company did not respond to inquiries as to whether this was a new hire.
Gardner’s representative clients include Baring Private Equity Asia, The Carlyle Group, Darby Private Equity, Fidelity Investments, FountainVest Partners, JP Morgan Special Opportunities, Khazanah Nasional, MBK Partners, One Equity Partners and Primavera Capital Group. Gardner specialised in financial sector M&A at Goldman Sachs’ New York office prior to joining Latham & Watkins in 2006. Latham did not respond to inquiries about a replacement for Gardner.
Other people moves reported in the past week on AsianInvestor: