Alex Jeffrey To Lead Asia Pacific for M&G

Alex Jeffrey has been appointed to lead M&G in Asia Pacific, as the UK-based asset manager continues to build up its Asia leadership team. Jeffrey will relocate to Singapore to take the newly created role in the second quarter of 2018, stepping down from his current position as Chief Executive of M&G Real Estate.

Upon taking the reins as Head of Asia Pacific, Jeffrey will oversee all local offices of the firm. Ng Chiang Ling, who was appointed as CEO of M&G Real Estate Asia less than two years ago, will be reporting to Jeffrey after the transition, a representative of the company told Mingtiandi.

New Asia Head To Take the Reins at M&G

“I have enjoyed five fulfilling years of leading and growing M&G’s wonderful real estate team,” Jeffrey commented in a statement. “I am hugely excited about the opportunity in front of us in a region that I know well. Asia is a strategically important market for M&G as we look to meet the savings and investment needs of the fast growing middle classes across the region.”

Jeffrey has 15 years of experience working and investing across Asia Pacific and was previously based in Singapore between 2010 and 2012 as Chief Investment Officer for MGPA Limited, a private equity firm since acquired by BlackRock. The executive has also served in a variety of London-based real estate and finance roles at MGPA, Lend Lease, JP Morgan and HSBC.

The statement indicates that after Jeffrey’s move, Simon Pilcher, chief executive of M&G’s Institutional Fixed Income business, will assume board-level responsibility for M&G Real Estate, supported by the division’s senior management team.

M&G, the investment arm of Prudential in Britain, Europe and Asia, manages over £281 billion ($365 billion) in assets globally, including £27 billion ($32 billion) in real estate investments through its M&G Real Estate subsidiary.

The company’s core Asia portfolio has 27 assets across five countries as of June. Singapore-based M&G Real Estate Asia has about 50 employees in Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul, and is responsible for $4.8 billion in assets.

Asset Manager Builds Up Its Asian Leadership Team

M&G has announced a series of high-level management changes in Asia in recent years, with Ng Chiang Ling taking over as CEO of M&G Real Estate Asia in April 2016, replacing Scott Girard. This past February, M&G Real Estate hired Jonathan Hsu as its new Head of Research for Asia, reporting to Ng.

Then in July, M&G Real Estate Asia recruited a trio of senior executives to further strengthen its operations in the region. Richard van den Berg left CBRE Global Investors to join the Singapore team as fund manager for the company’s core Asia real estate fund, while former ADIA real estate leader Robert Walker was said to be joining the board of M&G‘s core Asia property strategy as a non-executive director, subject to regulatory approval.

In the same month, Tenshin Ito joined M&G’s Tokyo office to manage the company’s Japanese teams, reporting to Singapore-based Ng.