Grosvenor Asia Pacific Names Lawrence Tsang as Chief Financial Officer

London-based Grosvenor Group has appointed Lawrence Tsang as chief financial officer of its Grosvenor Asia Pacific division, according to an announcement this week by the property group owned by the UK’s Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family.

Tsang joins Grosvenor from corporate services firm Vistra, where he served as chief financial officer for five years with the Hong Kong-based provider of company registrations.

The top level appointment comes four months after Grosvenor, which is famed for its prime holdings such as Belgravia Square in London, named Sing Cheong Liu as non-executive chairman of its APAC operation.

Picking Up the Baton From Ian Mair

The Cambridge graduate, who has two decades of experience at the front line of corporate finance, will be responsible for all of Grosvenor Asia Pacific’s financial matters, taking up the reins from incumbent Ian Mair who is returning to the UK after guiding the company’s finances in the region for the past five years.

“I look forward to working with Lawrence and in particular, drawing from his experience to support delivery of our purpose,” said Benjamin Cha, chief executive of Grosvenor Asia Pacific.

Tsang founded Vistra’s corporate social responsibility committee and strategy for Asia, an experience which may be put to good use for his new employer, whose commitment to long-term and sustainable investment informs its Living Cities approach to business.

Before joining the the firm, formerly known as Offshore Incorporations Ltd, Tsang headed up the financial management, business administration and corporate development arms of law firm Linklaters for ten years as its chief financial officer and chief operations officer for Asia. The graduate of Cambridge University also previously held finance and management positions at furniture supplier Haworth, as well as the UK’s Kingfisher and Unilever.

Grosvenor Wants a Bigger Slice of the Asia Pacific Pie

Tsang’s appointment comes at a time when the Grosvenor Group is looking to increase its share of business in Asia Pacific in what is its twenty-fifth year in the region. At the end of 2018, Grosvenor’s assets under management within Asia Pacific stood at HK$9.9 billion ($1.26 billion), or around 8 percent of its $16.1 billion total global assets under management.

The centuries-old property group, which made its first acquisition in the Asia Pacific in 1994, has focused it investments on the global hubs of Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

In 2017, the group acquired the retail asset Namikikan Ginza in Tokyo for a figure said to be around $210 million, while in Hong Kong it has several developments active including Duke’s Place luxury apartments, and in Shanghai the group is ready to strike ground on a mixed-use development in Nanjing.