Rava, SC Capital, BlackRock, Dash Joining Mingtiandi Singapore Forum on 12 May

Rava Partners has been among the most active investors in Asia Pacific real estate markets in the past 18 months, and one of the company’s two co-heads will be sitting down for an exclusive interview at the Mingtiandi Singapore Forum on 12 May.

Joe Gagnon, who is a partner at Rava’s parent organisation, Hillhouse Investments, in addition to leading the property specialist, will be speaking with Mingtiandi founder Michael Cole, about the company’s investments in ventures including Japan’s Samty Holdings, DayOne data centres, Dash Living and other commitments, as part of a full-day of conversations with industry leaders.

Gagnon and Rava are among the latest additions to a roster of more than 20 speakers at the event, with senior representatives of Dash Living, BlackRock, SC Capital Partners, the Singapore stock exchange and IndoChina Capital also having recently joined the agenda.

Over 300 senior industry leaders are expected to attend the forum, which is sponsored by Yardi, with hundreds more watching on the MTD TV video platform. Tickets are available at the link above, with early-bird pricing available until Friday 3 April. More information on the forum is available here.

Dash, Assembly Place Join Residential Panel

A former managing director and partner at Warburg Pincus, Gagnon co-founded Rava in 2020 alongside Hillhouse veteran Carl Ge and has since committed more than $3 billion to over 18 real estate companies across Asia Pacific, backing and building platforms in data centres, multifamily, industrial, life sciences and education.

The interview with Rava Partners’ Gagnon is one of four in-depth discussions which highlight Mingtiandi’s fifth annual forum in Singapore, in addition to one-on-one discussions with spotlight interview with Warburg Pincus co-head of Asia real estate Ellen Ng, Hongkong Land chief executive Michael Smith and Angela Zhao, chief executive officer of GLP China.

Also new to the agenda for the forum, which will be taking place at the Conrad Singapore Marina Bay, are Dash Living founder and CEO Aaron Lee, as well as Eugene Lim, founder and chief executive of The Assembly Place, both of whom will be taking part in the Asia Pacific Residential Strategies panel.

That session also includes Ginny Ang, chief investment officer of Centurion Accommodation REIT and Kai Zi Eyu, associate director for investment and asset management at Arch Capital.

Lee is joining the residential panel after Dash recently announced the acquisition of a portfolio of eight multifamily assets in Tokyo with a gross asset value of approximately $400 million, the latest step in an expansion that now spans Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.

The Assembly Place’s Lim will be speaking after having led the successful listing of his company on the Singapore Exchange’s Catalist board in January.

BlackRock and SGX Explore Singapore as a Capital Hub

Also new to the forum agenda is BlackRock director and head of investments for Singapore, Southeast Asia and South Korea Andrew Lee, who will be joining Ronald Tan, senior vice president for equity capital markets at Singapore Exchange in panel examining the forces drawing international capital to Southeast Asia’s most developed economy, while Singapore-based managers deploy funds worldwide.

That session will be moderated by Jason Chan, director for fund solutions at Vistra, with additional speakers to be announced in the coming days.

Another recent addition to the speaker roster is Christopher Hur, managing director for investments at SC Capital Partners, who is joining the panel on hospitality investment in Asia Pacific.

Hur, who also leads SC affiliate Fusion Hotel Group, will appear in the session alongside Alan Watts, president for Asia Pacific at Hilton; Bryan Lee, founder and CFO of AB Capital Investment; and Steve Carroll, head of hotels and hospitality for capital markets in Asia Pacific at CBRE, in a session moderated by Xander Huang, executive vice president for business development in Asia Pacific at Citco.

Industrial and Commercial Gain Favour

With warehouses and digital infrastructure continuing to be a dominant strategy in APAC, Michael Piro, co-chief executive of Indochina Capital, has joined the panel on APAC industrial and infrastructure investment, adding a Southeast Asia-focused perspective to a session examining rising demand for logistics, energy and digital infrastructure assets across the region.

Also confirmed for the session are Shirin Tang, a principal at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, with the panel moderated by Andrew Cannane, senior executive director and head of real estate for Asia Pacific at CSC.

With the returns available from Asia Pacific office and retail strategies commanding more attention, the forum will also feature a panel on APAC commercial investment moderated by Neil Brookes, head of Asia Pacific capital markets at Savills, with additional speakers to be named in the coming days.

Organisations interested in sponsoring the forum and taking part in the discussions on stage can contact Mingtiandi’s marketing team at opportunities@mingtiandi.com.