Link REIT Introduces Duncan Owen as Chair 

The board of Asia’s largest real estate investment trust on Wednesday formally announced Duncan Gareth Owen as its new chairman, with effect from 2 August.

Owen, who had been made chairman-elect in February, is succeeding Nicholas Allen who is retiring after nine years at the helm of Link REIT, according to a statement by the trust’s manager.

“I would like to thank Nick for his tireless dedication and commitment and congratulate him on such a successful chairmanship at Link in the last nine years,” Owen said. “I am excited and privileged to have this unique opportunity to oversee the next stage of Link’s development and look forward to working together with my fellow directors and the company’s management team to continue fulfilling our purpose while linking all our key stakeholders to a brighter future.”

Owen steps into the new role as REITs in most major markets look forward to the potential for lower interest rates in the coming months along with the prospect for lower borrowing costs and higher yields which that shift could bring.

Veteran Leadership

Best known for his career with Schroders, Owen headed the global real estate team at the London-based investment management firm from 2012 to 2020, after serving as chief executive of London-based Invista Real Estate Investment Management from 2006 to 2011.

Before those appointments, Owen was managing director of Insight Investment Management and co-founder of Gatehouse Investment Management. He also worked at JLL and LaSalle Investment Management in various posts from 1990 to 2001.

Now serving as a non-executive director on Link REIT’s board, Owen has since 2022 been chairman of Workspace Group, an LSE-listed REIT of British co-working centres catering to small businesses.

Onward to Link 3.0

“It has been a great honour to have served Link as Chairman and I am extremely proud of all that we have achieved together in the past decade to transform the company into a regional leader and position Link for further sustainable growth in years to come,” said Allen. “I am confident that under Duncan’s leadership, the company will continue to flourish as Link pursues a dynamic new chapter of development under the Link 3.0 strategy.”

Under its new plan Link REIT is expanding its business into new geographies and is also venturing into management of third party capital.

In December Link hired former BlackRock Asia Pacific real estate boss John Saunders as group chief investment officer, with his role understood to involve significant outreach to institutional investors.

After starting out in Hong Kong and later expanding into mainland China, Link REIT’s broadened scope has helped the $30 billion trust build a portfolio of 12 retail and office assets in Singapore, Australia and Britain.

Through the change in board leadership, Link REIT’s operations continue to be led on a daily basis by chief executive George Hongchoy, who saluted Allen’s contributions to building the REIT while welcoming Allen to the team.

“We are indebted to Nick for providing his wisdom and leadership over the past years and I have enjoyed working with him tremendously,” Hongchoy said. “We continue to build and strengthen our capabilities with key appointments both on our board and management team and I am excited to work with our new leadership to drive Link’s next phase of growth.”

Kung Joins as Independent Director

In its statement to the Hong Kong exchange Link REIT also revealed that former Bank of China (Hong Kong) deputy chief executive Ann Kung Yeung Yun-chi has been appointed to an independent, non-executive director on its board, with that role also commencing from 2 August.

Now 62, Kung served as deputy CEO of the bank from 2015 until her retirement in 2022. In her role on Link REIT’s board Kung will also be a member of the audit and risk management committee as well as of the remuneration committee.

Having previously held senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank, Kung currently chairs the banking and financial services group of the Employers’ Federation of Hong Kong.