Former APG Real Estate APAC Boss Graeme Torre Joins Hongkong Land

Just a few months after turning over the top role for Asia Pacific at Dutch pension fund manager APG Asset Management’s real estate division, Graeme Torre has joined Hongkong Land, according to a LinkedIn update.

Torre is now chief executive officer for Hong Kong central at the real estate division of conglomerate Jardine Matheson, with a statement on the company website noting that, “He is responsible for strengthening Hong Kong Central’s position as a leading ultra-premium integrated commercial property.” The personnel move makes Torre the latest capital markets veteran to join the blue chip developer since its 2023 hire of former Mapletree executive Michael Smith to lead a transformation of the company into a real estate investment manager.

Torre started his new role at Hongkong Land during the same month that the company announced its inaugural private real estate investment fund, a Singapore-focused vehicle with assets under management of S$8.2 billion ($6.4 billion) with APG as one of the backers in the vehicle.

Hongkong Land’s hire of Torre marks the firm’s latest in a string of senior hires from the fund management industry, after the company last year brought on board former Mapletree executive Michelle Ling and Blackstone veteran Stuart Grant. 

Hongkong Land chief executive Michael Smith will be appearing in a one-on-one interview at the Mingtiandi Singapore Forum on 12 May, to discuss the firm’s strategy for the region, with more information available here.

Central on the Upswing

Torre’s departure from APG was announced in November last year, with the veteran executive turning over his role as head of real estate for Asia Pacific at the pension fund manager to colleague Brian Hung later that month.

In his new role Torre will be managing a Hong Kong commercial property portfolio which was valued at nearly $23 billion at the end of 2024, with Hongkong Land in the midst of a $1 billion renovation of its retail assets in the city’s Central district.

Torre is taking over the Central district portfolio as demand for Hong Kong’s most expensive office space is on the rise, with vacancy in the city’s traditional business hub having fallen to 10.1 percent in January – its lowest level since 2023, according to JLL. Average office rents in Central climbed 1.2 percent in January, compared to a month earlier, per the agency’s figures, marking the fourth consecutive month of rising leasing rates.

Hongkong Land’s Central district portfolio forms the core of the company’s traditional business of leasing commercial space, and includes prime office properties such as the Exchange Square complex and Jardine House.

Fund Management Expertise

During his eight years leading APG’s real estate team in Asia Pacific Torre led investments in alternative real estate asset classes, including taking a stake in Shanghai-based logistics investment firm e-Shang in 2024 before that firm merged with Japan’s Redwood Group in 2016 to form ESR. The firm also backed ESR joint ventures and funds in Korea and Japan.

APG was also a founding investor in Greystar’s Asia Pacific multi-family business, and invested in Chinese data centres together with Bain Capital, through the Chindata platform.  Before joining APG in 2017, Torre was managing director for Asia Pacific at Invesco Real Estate. 

Torre joined Hongkong Land just over a year after Michelle Ling came on board as chief investment officer following more than five years as chief executive office for private capital management at Mapletree Investments. 

A former Goldman Sachs managing director, Ling had worked alongside Michael Smith both at the investment bank and at Mapletree before Smith took the top job at Hongkong Land. Pei Teng Foo, formerly chief executive officer at Mapletree’s student housing division, joined Hongkong Land in Singapore in August of last year as director of asset management. 

In March last year Hongkong Land announced that it had brought on board Stuart Grant as chief executive of the company’s $8 billion Westbund Central commercial project in Shanghai.

Hongkong Land announced in late 2024 that it would shift to management of third party capital, and exit its development business, with the company last year selling its Singapore development vision for $579 million.