A server shed specialist leads this week’s collection of personnel moves from around Asia, with ESR bringing on board some talent from Google for its data centre division in Singapore. Also make the list is a departure at GIC and a pair of board appointments at SGX-listed developer Metro Holdings.
Darren Ansell has joined ESR in Singapore as senior director for investment with the developer and fund manager’s data centre division, according to a LinkedIn update. Ansell joined the industrial specialist this month after nearly two and a half years at Google, where he led strategy and acquisitions with the tech giant’s global infrastructure division. The University of Auckland graduate also has previous experience with Xander Investment Management and PGIM Real Estate.
GIC portfolio manager Daniel Lim has left the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, according to a Bloomberg account, ending a more than eight year run with the institution’s private credit division. Higher interest rates have boosted returns for private credit strategies in the region, with fund managers rushing to ramp up their strategies in the sector as equity investments struggle to achieve attractive yields. In his most recent role with GIC, Lim was responsible for Asia Pacific and emerging market corporate credit opportunities, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Former Frasers Property executive Christopher Tang has joined the board of Singapore’s Metro Holdings as an independent, non-executive director, according to a bourse announcement this past week. Now 63, Tang had served as chief executive of Frasers Property Singapore until the beginning of 2020 and subsequently served as an advisor to the group until the end of 2021. In a parallel move announced the same day, Metro Holdings also named former OCBC and BNP Paribas banker Chan Boon Hui to an independent, non-executive director role.
Mitsui Fudosan’s United Kingdom division said on 9 May that it has appointed Takeshi Iwama as its new chief executive with effect from this month. Iwama, who first joined the real estate development division of the Japanese conglomerate in 1996, had previously held the role of head of the strategy planning department for its international division. He takes over the company’s top spot in the UK from Tomoo Nakamura, who is returning to Japan.
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has hired Nicholas Gunn as senior vice president for investment in its London office, according to a LinkedIn update. Gunn joins the chief rival to Alibaba from Principal Global Investors where he had served since 2021 as fund manager for the company’s open-ended, pan-European direct real estate fund. The University of Reading graduate also has previous experience with International Property Funds Management, Credit Suisse and Propertylink.
Bharadwaja B V announced on LinkedIn this past week that he has joined Sembcorp Development in Singapore as a senior advisor for business development with the company’s urban division. In his new role, Bharad, as he is known, is responsible for identifying opportunities in the industrial township sector. He had served as chief executive officer for Southeast Asia at self-storage provider StorHub from 2020 through 2022 after spending nearly a decade with CapitaLand, including leading the company’s India business from 2015 through 2019.
Colliers announced on 6 May that it has promoted Dorothy Chow to head of its valuations and advisory services division for Hong Kong. Chow was awarded her upgrade this month after joining Colliers in 2021 as an executive director with the same division. The University of Hong Kong graduate had previously spent more than 23 years at JLL in the city, where she worked her way up to senior director.
Within days of announcing Chow’s promotion, Colliers said that it has appointed Elliott Hau to lead the company’s financing valuation and bank services team in Hong Kong. The company has created the financing valuation and bank services unit to integrate its work with international and local commercial and corporate banks as well as other financial institutions and advisory firms. Hau has been with the company’s valuation and advisory division since 2022.
If you know of other Asia real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please contact us here at Mingtiandi.
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