Asia Real Estate People in the News 2021-11-01

Board moves at top developers lead Mingtiandi’s collection of real estate personnel updates from around the region this week, as Singapore-listed Guocoland names a new independent director and the Hong Kong-listed branch of China Poly Real Estate introduces a new chairman.

Having recently shed its CBRE Global Investors identity, CBRE Investment Management is also changing its top personnel in China, and there are also new faces at Gaw Capital Partners, CapitaLand and GLP as well.

Malaysian developer Guocoland has appointed Wee Lieng-seng as an independent, non-executive director on its board, effective 29 October, according to an announcement to the Singapore stock exchange. Wee, whose day job is chief executive and co-founder of New York-based investment advisory firm Dragonfly LLC, is taking over a board spot vacated by Abdullah Bin Tarmugi, who retired by rotation on 28 October.

Poly Property Group announced on 26 October that Zhang Bingnan has resigned as chairman and executive director of the offshore-listed branch of the state-run Chinese developer, due to revised work arrangements. Zhang, who had been in his post since 2019, was replaced on 26 October by 45-year-old Wan Yuqing, who had served as Poly Property’s chief financial officer since October 2019, and also led the firm’s business in Jiangsu province.

PGIM Real Estate has hired Matthew Yao, the former head of CBRE Investment Management for China to be its first country head for the mainland, according to a report today in PERE. During his eight years at the company known until recently as CBRE Global Investors, Yao and his team focused primarily on logistics, an area which has also become central to PGIM’s strategy in mainland China. In April of this year PGIM Real Estate bought a portfolio of mainland warehouses from Warburg Pincus-backed New Ease for $323 million, and during the first quarter, the US-based firm closed on $1 billion for its fourth APAC value-add fund.

Long-time CBRE Investment Management executive Daniel Zheng has been promoted to head of China logistics with the fund manager, where he continues to be based in Shanghai. The step up for Zheng, who previously led CBRE IM’s development unit, comes as eight-year company veteran Matthew Yao has left his role as head of China for the private equity division of CBRE.

Gaw Capital Partners has hired data centre veteran Mark Messana as digital infrastructure advisor, according to an announcement on Linkedin this past week. The Los Angeles-based executive formerly was vice president of data centre operations for telecom infrastructure provider Crown Castle and has more than 25 years experience in the industry. At Gaw, Messana will will be working with the firm’s head of non-China data centres, Kok-Chye Ong, to identify opportunities to expand its digital infrastructure business.

Eugene Kim has joined CapitaLand in Singapore as senior director for investment, as the property giant transitions to its new, fund management-driven business model. Prior to joining CapitaLand last month Kim had spent three years with JLL in Singapore as senior director for corporate finance advisory, and also has several years experience with divisions of Canada’s Brookfield while based in Canada.

Jingchen Liu has signed up with GLP in Shanghai as a senior manager with the logistics specialist’s asset management division, according to a LinkedIn update. Liu took on his new role at GLP last month after just over a year and a half as an asset management associate with HNA Group’s North American division in New York. The graduate of the master’s in real estate program at Columbia University also has previous experience with the East China Architectural Design and Research Institute in Shanghai.

Cushman & Wakefield has appointed Mari Kumagai as head of research and consulting for Japan, according to a recent announcement by the property services firm. In her 20 years working in the industry, Kumagai has experience with UBS, Citigroup and PIMCO, and also spent time with the research team for Colliers International in the country. Most recently Kumagai was vice president of research and strategy at LaSalle Investment Management in Japan.

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.