Central banking leads this week’s collection of personnel moves from around Asia, with Hong Kong renewing the head of its monetary authority for a fresh term. Also making the list is fresh China leadership for Singapore’s Mapletree and a new boss for Goldman Sachs in Korea.
Hong Kong financial secretary Paul Chan on 26 July announced the appointment of Eddie Yue as chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for an additional five year term. Yue will begin his second half-decade at the helm of the city’s de facto central bank from 1 October with the graduate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of London, and Harvard Business School having served with the HKMA since 1993.
Australia’s QIC announced on 25 July that it has hired Deborah Coakley, former chief executive for funds management at Dexus, to lead its real estate fund management business. The sovereign investor representing the state of Queensland said that Coakley will be stepping in as managing director of QIC Real Estate from 15 October, following incumbent Michael O’Brien’s decision to step down from the role with the $72 billion investor.
Singapore’s Mapletree Investments has hired a former Morgan Stanley executive to lead its China business, according to informed sources who spoke with Mingtiandi. Lida Ren, who left Morgan Stanley’s real estate investment banking business last year, has been appointed chief executive for China with the unit of state-backed Temasek Holdings, with the personnel move having been reported earlier by Bloomberg. Mapletree also recently brought on board former Oriental Patron partner Lin Jiajing as head of Greater China for its Mapletree Private Capital Management Team in Hong Kong.
Goldman Sachs next month will welcome Jaehoon Ahn as head of its investment banking business for Korea, according to a recent statement by the company. Ahn joins the blue-chip firm from SK Bioscience, where he has served as a vice president heading strategic planning and corporate development since December, after joining the firm in 2021 as head of its strategic corporate development office. Ahn previously spent more than a decade with Morgan Stanley before leaving as a managing director in 2021.
Hong Kong-listed Jiayuan Services announced on 26 July that its chairman, Zhu Hongge was stepping down from the company effective from that date, due to having reached retirement age. Zhu had led the property management unit of Nanjing developer Jiayuan International since before its 2020 IPO. Jiayuan International has struggled to pay its bills in recent years, with the company announcing in February that some of its assets had been seized, apparently by unpaid creditors.
Publicly traded Indian developer Shriram Properties Limited announced on 20 July that it has promoted Gopalakrishnan J to group chief executive officer with effect from that same day. Already an executive director on the company’s board, Gopalakrishnan has been with Shriram Properties since 2018 and had served most recently as group chief financial officer. In the same announcement, Shriram said it had also promoted executive director for strategy and corporate development K R Ramesh to group CFO.
Glorious Property Holdings informed the Hong Kong stock exchange on 24 July that Zheng Qun Guo has resigned as chief executive officer of the company from that same day, with independent non-executive director Liu Tao simultaneously stepping down from the developer’s top decision-making body. Glorious Property suffered a loss attributable to owners of the company of RMB 2.9 billion ($400 million) in 2023 on sales of RMB 1.7 billion.
Troubled mainland developer China Evergrande Group announced to the Hong Kong stock exchange on 25 July that David Chau Shing Yim has resigned from his role as an independent, non-executive director of the company due to other business engagements. The departure of the former Deloitte partner also ends his term as chairman of the developer’s audit committee and his membership in the board’s nomination committee. These changes took effect from 31 May 2024 with Evergrande noting in its statement that Chau’s departure leaves the company in violation of Hong Kong requirements regarding the minimum number of independent directors on its audit and nomination committees.
Property consultancy Colliers said earlier this month that it has promoted Alex Lam to head of office services for Hong Kong island. Lam, who had taken a step up to executive director with Colliers in 2022, takes on his new responsibilities after first joining the company as a senior director in 2019. The University of Sheffield graduate previously spent more than 13 years with JLL in Hong Kong.
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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