Kenny Lam Joins Manulife Real Estate as Head of Asia Property Investments

Manulife Real Estate has hired a new head of Asia real estate investments, as the arm of Canada’s Manulife Financial Corp doubles down on the Asian property sector. Real estate investment veteran Kenny Lam is joining the firm’s Hong Kong office as managing director, after stepping down as chief manager of direct property investment at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, according to Lam’s professional profile on LinkedIn.

In his new role, Lam will source and execute real estate acquisitions in Asia while expanding the firm’s deal-making platform into new markets, Reuters reported. Lam, who started his career as a civil engineer, has held senior roles in the real estate investment field over the past ten years.

Before he joined the HKMA in 2015, Lam served as executive director of strategic and overseas real estate investment at Ping An Real Estate in Shanghai. Prior to that stint in mainland China, Lam worked at J.P. Morgan in Hong Kong as vice president of Greater China real estate private equity.

Manulife Hires Property Investment Pro To Drive Asian Deals

Lam ran the direct property investment team at HKMA, Hong Kong’s de facto central bank, since February 1 of this year and stepped down on August 24, according to a report by AsianInvestor. He is succeeded in the role by colleague Samson Wong, who joined the HKMA in 2009. The personnel changes are part of a shakeup within the HKMA’s Reserves Management division, which is tasked with managing Hong Kong’s HK$3.9 trillion ($499 billion) Exchange Fund.

Manulife Real Estate is bringing Lam on board as the company looks to double its real estate holdings throughout the region, which currently total around $2.2 billion. According to a top executive quoted by The Business Times last month, Manulife is targetting acquisitions in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne, with a focus on prime downtown office assets.

The company made its first acquisition in Singapore this past February by picking up the PwC Building, a 28-storey, grade A office tower valued at $526 million. Manulife purchased the building in the city-state’s financial district from DBS Group to serve as a home base for its expanding Singapore operations.

Manulife’s real estate portfolio totals $16.7 billion, $3.8 billion of which is managed on behalf of third-party investors, and spans over 65 million square feet (6 million square metres) worldwide, primarily in Canada and the US. The Toronto-based firm has 14 properties in Asia totalling 1.76 million square feet (163,509 square metres), representing 2.7 percent of its global portfolio.