HSBC AM Names Karim Ghannam Global Head of Real Assets

Nearly a half year after the departure of former boss Victoria Sharpe, HSBC Asset Management has named a new chief for its real estate investment division.

Karim Ghannam, who led the alternative investment unit at Deutsche Bank’s Asia Pacific asset management division before co-founding an aquaculture investment platform in 2016, has been appointed global head of real assets and head of alternatives for Singapore with HSBC Asset Management, according to a statement today by the company.

HSBC AM, which manages $808 billion globally, sees the new hire as key to the expansion of its alternatives business with Singapore serving as a capital nexus.

“We are delighted to welcome Karim to the team as we look to scale up our real assets business and tap into Singapore’s position as a key international wealth hub,” HSBC Asset Management’s chief executive for alternatives, Joanna Munro said in a release. She added that, “Karim brings valuable industry insight as we continue to enhance our real assets platform and deliver comprehensive investment solutions to our clients.”

Inland Salmon

Reporting directly to Munro, Ghannam will start his new role on 8 August, with the executive having announced his departure from his role as co-founder and partner at 8F Asset Management in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. 

Based in Singapore, 8F manages private equity funds that invest in land-based fish farming operations, including Pure Salmon, an Abu Dhabi-based firm which specialises in sustainable raising of salmon in purpose-built facilities. 

In January of this year 8F announced a first close of its third aquaculture fund, with the majority of the cash dedicated to a fish farm in Japan’s Mie prefecture.

Before co-founding 8F in 2016, Ghannam had spent more than five years with Deutsche Bank, including over three years as the bank’s head of alternative and fund solutions for Asia Pacific, based in Singapore, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank in London during 2011, the McGill University graduate spent more than a decade in the Merrill Lynch, and later Bank of America Merrill Lynch universe, including four years as a partner in Argan Capital, a London-based private equity fund manager spun out of BA Capital Partners Europe.

Leadership Change

HSBC is appointing Ghannam after Victoria Sharpe left her position as head of real assets with the firm early this year, as reported by Mingtiandi in March.

Sharpe had led the asset manager’s Asia real estate division since 2021 before being promoted to global head of real assets in 2022. 

In 2023 HSBC Asset Management announced the acquisition of regional real estate investment manager SilkRoad Property Partners as a step in expanding its property investment platform in Asia. That takeover was completed in February of last year. 

With Hong Kong commercial property values having fallen nearly by half since their 2019 peak, in July last year property agency JLL announced a public auction of 133 Wai Yip Street, a Kowloon East office building co-owned by HSBC AM together with Gaw Capital Partners, with the sale later being cancelled. 

SilkRoad Property Partners is said to have purchased a 50 percent stake in 133 Wai Yip Street in 2017 for around HK$1 billion. HSBC Asset Management’s real estate portfolio as inherited from Silk Road also includes Hong Kong industrial properties, Singapore shop assets and both commercial and residential buildings in Japan.