Frank Chen Joins Pimco as Credit Analyst

Former CBRE China Executive Director Frank Chen, has landed at PIMCO, the investment management arm of European financial giant Allianz SE, as a credit analyst based in Hong Kong.

Chen started work this month as a senior vice president in charge of real estate coverage in Asia for the investment manager after his career at CBRE in China came to an abrupt end last month.

Hand-picked by CBRE’s now global head of research Nick Axford to be a “thought leader” that would highlight the agency’s real estate knowledge in mainland China, Chen passed his four years at the company gaining little notice from the business leaders he was hired to impress, while presiding over an unprecedented buildup in his department’s operating costs and headcount.

Higher Costs Brought Limited Results

After years of trailing competitor JLL’s research in the China market, CBRE hoped to pick up its game by hiring Chen, a mainlander with a background in real estate equity research. The challenges involved took on new proportion however with the Guangdong native’s first presentation to investors in Shanghai. At that event, Chen, a non-native speaker of English, also struggled with the Mandarin for simple economic terms, bringing audible laughter from attendees at the high-level gathering.

Chen also faced difficulties in his relations with co-workers as the cost centre leader pushed for higher pay for his team and expanded the department’s China headcount to 20 persons. “It put a tremendous strain on the company financially, but he was the global head’s golden boy, so he could get away with murder,” commented one former top-level CBRE executive who worked side by side with Chen.

Reached for comment by Mingtiandi, Chen’s former supervisor at CBRE would only confirm that the former China head had resigned from the firm.

Approach to Data Hobbled Research Efforts

Despite CBRE’s willingness to spend on resources to support Chen, however, results for the China research team at times failed to meet basic requirements. According to sources familiar with the company’s research operations, Chen failed to notice for more than a year’s time that one of the 12 offices in his territory was collecting and inputting its data using a different methodology from the rest of the country, as the one-time bank executive showed little interest in getting his hands dirty with the nitty gritty of operating procedures for his growing team.

In the end, Chen’s fate was likely sealed when, after building up a record level of staff to support him in Shanghai, the country director decided to relocate himself to Shenzhen, in his native Guangdong province. Meanwhile, the largest contingent of CBRE’s China research team were left behind in Shanghai working beside Sam Xie, the company’s research head for eastern China. Xie was announced as CBRE’s new head of China research last month. And Chen was on his way to being a credit analyst at PIMCO.