Weekly roundup of people news, Nov 4
TCORP NAMES HEAD OF REAL ASSETS AND PRIVATE MARKETS
The New South Wales Treasury Corporation (TCorp) has appointed James Murray as its head of real assets and private markets. He will continue to be based in Sydney in this new role.
Murray has been at TCorp since 2015 and previously held roles such as senior portfolio manager, diversified funds, defensive assets and credit, and acting head of portfolio delivery and head of liability management, derivatives and defensive assets.
Before joining TCorp, Murray was head of fixed income and derivatives at State Super. Prior to that he held roles as senior portfolio manager of fixed interest at AMP Capital, and senior investment manager at ipac Securities/AXA Asia Pacific.
His new position was previously held by Diana Callebaut, who joined TCorp in February 2020 from Cbus and left in June of 2022 to take up the role of global head of investments at Pollination.
AVIVA INVESTORS APPOINTS APAC HEAD FROM FRANKLIN TEMPLETON
Aviva Investors, the global asset management arm of Aviva, has appointed Richard Surrency as head of Asia Pacific. He will be based in Singapore and will report to Scott Callander, global head of distribution at Aviva Investors.
Surrency joins from Franklin Templeton, which hired him in March 2020 to grow its alternatives business in Asia. He was tasked with leading the private markets and alternatives team, developing country-level strategies and partnering with the alternative investment, product and distribution teams to generate solutions for institutional and sophisticated clients in the region. He was also a member of Franklin Templeton’s APAC Executive Committee.
Prior to Franklin Templeton, Surrency was CEO of Algebris Investments (Asia) where he was responsible for the growth of the firm in Asia Pacific and the Middle East. He has also held senior APAC roles at Morgan Stanley and BNY Mellon.
FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL APPOINTS SOUTHEAST ASIA AND SINGAPORE HEAD
Fidelity International has promoted Sabrina Gan to head of Southeast Asia and country head of Singapore, subject to regulatory approval. In her new role, Sabrina will be responsible for delivering growth across client channels for Fidelity’s business in Southeast Asia.
Gan has been with Fidelity since 2015, when she first joined as head of private bank distribution for Asia ex-Japan. She was promoted to become the head of private bank for Asia ex-Japan and wholesale distribution for Southeast Asia in 2021.
She takes the place of Lawrence Hanson who will now lead Fidelity’s Australia business as Managing Director. Gan will continue to be based in Singapore and will report to Rajeev Mittal, managing director of Asia Pacific ex-Japan, along with a line to Johann Santer for Fidelity’s wealth business.
Before joining Fidelity, Gan was the director and head of retail distribution, Singapore at BlackRock, and held senior positions at Schroders.
LASALLE HIRES HEAD OF RMB STRATEGY FROM PGIM
LaSalle Investment Management on Tuesday announced that it has named Matthew Jianguo Yao, a seasoned investment manager in the Greater China market, as its Head of Renminbi Strategy.
This appointment follows LaSalle’s successful registration as a private equity fund manager (PFM) with the Asset Management Association of China, which enables LaSalle to carry out RMB-denominated capital raising, as well as provide fund management services for RMB funds in China, the firm said.
In this newly formed role, Yao will partner with LaSalle’s team across Shanghai and Hong Kong to further develop its RMB strategy and execution. He will also leverage his market expertise and network to forge more capital partnerships with China’s domestic institutional investors and capture new opportunities in the market.
He reports to Claire Tang, head of Greater China and co-chief investment officer, Asia Pacific.
Yao joins LaSalle from PGIM where he was most recently head of China of PGIM Real Estate based in Hong Kong until the end of August.
“Yao’s responsibilities to grow PGIM Real Estate’s China business and domestic pool of investment opportunities have been assumed by existing members of the team, under the leadership of Benett Theseira, head of Asia Pacific,” the firm told AsianInvestor.
GAM HIRES JAPAN EQUITY ANALYST FROM NEUBERGER BERMAN
Goro Takahashi has joined GAM Investments’ Japanese equity team on November 1. He is based at GAM's Tokyo office and reports to the team's leader, investment director Ernst Glanzmann, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor.
Takahashi brings 19 years of financial industry experience. Prior to joining GAM, he was senior analyst at Neuberger Berman, mainly covering the auto and capital goods sector. He was also responsible for the portfolio management of several institutional funds and was involved in engagement activities as part of his investment activities, according to a GAM press release. Neuberger Berman did not respond to AsianInvestor's inquiries about Takahashi's role at the firm, when he left and who has taken over his responsibilities.
Prior to that, Takahashi was an investment director at Aberdeen Japan and an equity analyst at Fidelity Investments. He started his career as a certified public accountant with EY Japan.
LEAPFROG INVESTMENTS APPOINTS NEW PARTNER
LeapFrog Investments, a Temasek-backed impact investment firm, has appointed Nakul Zaveri as partner to co-lead its newly established Climate Investment Strategy. He is likely to be based in Mumbai, India.
He joins LeapFrog from his most recent role as Managing Partner at Relativity Investment Management, a sustainability-focused growth private equity fund group, investing in mid-market Indian businesses.
Before that, Nakul was a senior leader for seven years at the Global Environment Fund, a private equity investor focused on the industrial technology, energy ecosystem, infrastructure, and resource efficiency sectors, where he was responsible for managing investment activity across India and Southeast Asia.
The new Climate Strategy will focus on companies providing green products and services that are already cost competitive in many emerging markets, and enjoy enabling regulatory tailwinds. This large and expanding investable universe includes PAYG rooftop solar, distributed energy systems, 2-wheeler electric vehicles and smart farming practices.