LaSalle Investment Co-CEO Phillip Ling Retires

LaSalle Investment Management announced this week that Phillip Ling, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific, has retired from the real estate investment firm as of June 30th.

The leadership transition means that Mark Gabbay will now be LaSalle’s sole CEO in the region, and take lead responsibility for the company’s business in Asia Pacific, after sharing the role with Ling since 2010.

While Ling has stepped down from his day to day responsibilities, the former Lend Lease executive and University of London graduate will remain with the company as a non- executive director of the holding company for the firm’s Australian business.

Mark Gabbay, CEO Asia Pacific, LaSalle, commented, “I would like to thank Phil for his hard work and commitment to building LaSalle’s Asia business over the past eight years. I am both professionally and personally delighted that he will retain strong ties to the firm through his role as non-executive director.”

Leaving LaSalle After Eight Years

Ling joined LaSalle in 2007 to lead the management of the business in Asia, initially as Managing Director for the region and subsequently as CEO. He remodeled the business by integrating the investment, asset management and portfolio management activities through the creation of the fund manager role.

Earlier this year, LaSalle successfully partnered with China’s CIC sovereign wealth fund to acquire the Meguro Gajoen mixed-use complex in Tokyo for ¥140 billion ($1.2 billion).

Ling is credited with successfully steering LaSalle’s business through the industry downturn triggered by the global financial crisis and enabling the company’s pre-crisis funds to provide positive returns to investors.

In 2012, Ling moved to Australia to lead the Australian business as well as to continue to co-lead and rebuild the company’s Asia Pacific business together with Co-CEO Mark Gabbay.

LaSalle was established in Asia Pacific in 2000 and now manages $7.0 billion in real estate assets across the region. The company is headquartered regionally in Singapore and has approximately 150 employees located across Brisbane, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

The Chicago-based subsidiary of Jones Lang LaSalle manages capital for institutions and private investors globally by investing in private and public real estate equity and debt through a range of investment vehicles.

As of Q1 2015, LaSalle manages $56.0 billion of private and public property equity investments, and has nearly 700 employees in 16 countries worldwide.