Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 20
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SUN LIFE AM HONG KONG CIO MOVES TO AIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
Former chief investment officer of Sun Life Asset Management Hong Kong Zita Chung joined AIA Investment Management Hong Kong in October, AsianInvestor understands.
Chung continues to be based in Hong Kong.
AsianInvestor was unable to ascertain what title she holds as of publication. AIA Investment Management is part of the Hong Kong-based AIA Group.
Before joining AIA, Chung had been with Sun Life Financial since early 2012, having worked in various roles including regional head of investments and portfolio manager.
She became CIO of Sun Life Asset Management Hong Kong in 2018. AsianInvestor reported her departure in August.
AsianInvestor was unable to ascertain whether Sun Life Asset Management Hong Kong has named Chung’s successor as CIO.
CBUS HIRES NEW INFRA HEAD
Cbus Super announced the appointment of Jordan Kraiten as its new head of infrastructure on October 19.
Kraiten will continue to be based in Melbourne and will assume his new role in 2024.
He previously led the infrastructure portfolio at Hostplus for 11 years. Prior to that, he was a senior manager at Macquarie Bank for nearly 8 years.
Kraiten’s appointment aligns with the super fund’s strategic goal of managing over 50% of assets internally. He will be responsible for leading the infrastructure team to optimise the portfolio and maximise value from existing and new assets, both locally and globally.
EQUIP SUPER ANNOUNCES NEW CHAIR
Equip Super has announced the appointment of Michael Cameron as the new chair of the fund, succeeding Danny Casey.
Effective from November, Cameron will assume leadership of Equip Super's board, which comprises nine members, including three independent directors, three member directors, and three employer directors.
With a career in financial services spanning more than two decades, Cameron has held various leadership positions at organisations such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, St. George Bank, the New South Wales Treasury, the Australian Government Department of Finance, The GPT Group, and Suncorp Group.
Currently, he holds chair positions at Heritage and People's Choice, Resolution Capital, and serves as the deputy chair of icare (Insurance and Care NSW).
Cameron will replace Casey who has served as chair since the official merger of Equip Super and Catholic Super in July 2021. Casey previously held the position of deputy chair during the joint venture structure of the two funds and served as chair of Catholic Super for two years.
LEGALSUPER HIRES CFO, CONTINUES SEARCH FOR CIO
The industry fund for the legal community, legalsuper has appointed Michael Gogorosis to the newly created position of chief financial officer.
Chief executive Luke Symons made the announcement and said that the fund is still in the market for a new chief investment officer to replace Norman Zhang who resigned last month.
Gogorosis joins from Vision Super, where he was deputy chief financial officer.
Prior to that, he was the financial controller at Equip Super where he managed the A$5 billion ($3.16 billion) merger with Rio Tinto Super.
The appointment follows Zhang's resignation, who left the fund to prepare for a role at Koda Capital which he will begin in December.
CBRE IM NAMES MD FOR APAC CLIENT SOLUTIONS
CBRE Investment Management announced the appointment of Evan Gallagher as a managing director in the Asia-Pacific client solutions team on October 13.
Gallagher, based in Sydney, will lead client engagement with institutional and wealth management investors in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, focusing on real assets.
He has over 25 years of experience in executive and business development roles, specialising in real estate and infrastructure in private and public markets.
Before joining CBRE IM, Gallagher took part in overseeing strategic planning and growth initiatives at Australian .
Prior to that, he was leading global business development efforts at ASK Capital, an emerging markets real estate manager supported by Blackstone. Earlier, he was responsible for heading the international business division at IDFC Limited, an emerging markets infrastructure manager backed by GIC.
CAPITAL GROUP APPOINTS APAC FIXED INCOME DIRECTORS
Capital Group has appointed investment directors to its Asia-Pacific fixed income team.
Manusha Samaraweera joins as fixed income investment director for Asia Pacific ex-Japan, effective October.
Based in Singapore, he was most recently a fixed Income and ESG strategist at PIMCO, where he represented its global fixed income and ESG investment solutions to Asian clients.
PIMCO declined to comment on when Samaraweera left and who took over his responsibilities.
Haran Karunakaran, who was a director in Capital Group’s investment product services team in Singapore, has been appointed fixed income investment director for Asia Pacific with a focus on Australia. He will relocate to Sydney.
Karunakaran has been with Capital Group since May 2021, joining from PIMCO where he was senior vice president and fixed income strategist.
Both Samaraweera and Karunakaran report to Scott Steele, head of fixed income business development for Asia and Europe.
Whilst Samaraweera’s role is a replacement, Karunakaran’s role to be based in Sydney is a newly created one, a Capital Group spokesperson told AsianInvestor without naming the person that Samaraweera replaced.
GAM APPOINTS NEW JAPAN DISTRIBUTION HEAD
Investment manager GAM has appointed Takakiyo Iwamoto as head of distribution for GAM Japan Limited, effective October 2.
Based in Tokyo, Iwamoto will report to Masato Tojima, representative director and president of GAM Japan, a spokesperson told AsianInvestor. Iwamoto replaces Kazuaki Saito, who left earlier in 2023, the spokesperson added.
Prior to joining GAM Investments, Iwamoto was with Barclays Securities Japan as senior sales manager responsible for developing quantitative investment strategies for large financial institutions.
Barclays did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries about when Iwamoto left the firm and who took over his responsibilities.
Prior to Barclays, Iwamoto had roles with State Street Global Advisors, J.P. Morgan Securities, Deutsche Bank Securities and BNP Paribas, Zurich Capital Markets and Mitsui & Co.
CBRE HONG KONG ADDS TO CAPITAL MARKETS TEAM
CBRE Hong Kong appointed Bernadette Lau to the capital markets team as senior director, with immediate effect, the firm announced on October 17.
In the newly created role, she reports to Reeves Yan, head of capital markets, CBRE Hong Kong.
With close to two decades of experience in the real estate industry, Lau has experience as a broker among institutional clients, private equity real estate funds and family office investors on disposal and acquisition advisory.
She joined from Savills Hong Kong where she spent over seven years and was most recently head of Kowloon commercial sales. Before that, she worked with Colliers for over 10 years.