Weekly roundup of people news, Oct 30
Axa IM appoints senior equity manager in Hong Kong
Axa Investment Managers has added Simon Weston as senior equity fund manager in Hong Kong, bringing its Framlington Equities team up to three in Asia.
He will focus on Asia-Pacific equities and support the wider research capabilities of the team in Asia, reporting to Mark Tinker, Asia head of Framlington Equities.
Weston joins Axa IM from Semeru CLSA Capital Partners in Singapore, where he was a portfolio manager of the Semeru Asian Equity High Yield Fund. He has also worked at Old Mutual Asset Managers, Perpetual Investment Management and Hill Samuel Asset Management.
Weston left CLSA Capital Partners in April this year following the sale of Capital Partners’ Semeru funds to Vietnam’s Dragon Capital.
M&G adds two in intermediary sales
UK-based M&G Investments has made two additions to its sales team in Asia.
Anthony Yeung joined in October as associate director in Hong Kong, tasked with further developing M&G’s business in the wealth management space.
Yeung has held positions with several asset managers and private banks, most recently managing fund distribution sales and client management for Swiss fund manager GAM in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea. GAM could not be reached for comment by press time.
Sophia Shi started in August as relationship manager to strengthen the intermediary team out of Singapore, focusing mainly on private banks in Malaysia and Singapore.
She joins the $403 billion fund house from BNY Mellon’s recently shuttered managed accounts business where she focused on private banks in Singapore and Malaysia. Shi began her career at Keppel Corporation before joining OCBC as a portfolio counsellor in the wealth management division.
Shi and Yeung report to Ben Cherrington, director of intermediary channels for Asia Pacific, and raise the headcount of the regional intermediary team to seven. Previously their responsibilities were shared across the existing staff.
Their hires follow the recent departure of Andrew Hendry, M&G’s managing director for Asia and the July arrival of Jeik Sohn as the firm’s first investment specialist in the region.
Ex-Azentus counsel Lee Kher Sheng joins Aima
The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima) has named Lee Kher Sheng as its first head of Asia-Pacific government affairs, based in Singapore.
He joins from Hong Kong-based Azentus Capital and also takes on the role of global deputy head of government affairs. Lee had been general counsel with Azentus from May 2011 until earlier this year, when the multi-strategy manager reportedly returned client money after disappointing performance.
He has been closely involved with Aima over several years. He was the first chair of Aima’s sound practices committee, an inaugural member of the asset management standing committee and co-chair of the Hong Kong regulatory committee.
He will work alongside Heide Blunt, head of Asia-Pacific, and Jiří Król, deputy CEO and global head of government affairs.
Lee is tasked with identifying policy and regulatory priorities in the region that have relevance to regional and global members, and selecting global government and regulatory affairs projects.
APS Asset Management appoints executive chairman
Singapore-based APS Asset Management has appointed Raymond Lim as executive chairman, effective October 27. A former cabinet minister in the Singapore government, he has been chairman of APS since January 2013.
Working closely with Hahn Sull, president of APS, Lim will seek to strengthen its leadership, enhance the overall quality of the firm and provide strategic direction.
With Lim’s closer involvement in APS, the $2.7 billion firm said that founder and chief investment officer Wong Kok Hoi would “be able to maintain an even stronger focus on investment”.
Jon Winkelried to join TPG as co-CEO
Private equity firm TPG, with $75 billion in assets under management, has named Jon Winkelried as co-chief executive. He will assume his role in early November, based in San Francisco.
Winkelried will work alongside TPG co-founder and current CEO Jim Coulter. David Bonderman, who co-founded TPG with Coulter, will continue in his role as chairman.
Winkelried previously served as president and co-chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs. During his 27-year tenure at Goldman Sachs, he held various senior roles including co-head of the firm’s investment banking division, co-head of fixed income, currency and commodities, and head of leveraged finance.
Citi replaces chief India economist
Citi has appointed Samiran Chakraborty as chief economist for India.
Chakraborty was most recently head of macro research for South Asia at Standard Chartered. He has also worked at India’s ICICI Bank as chief economist and Delhi School of Economics. Standard Chartered could not comment by press time on whether he has been or would be replaced.
He replaces Rohini Malkini, who left Citi on April 30 after almost 14 years there. She has relocated to New York and is seeking opportunities covering emerging markets, according to her LinkedIn page.
Other people news reported this week on AsianInvestor.net:
AllianzGI CEO steps down, McKay new co-head
HSBC Global AM names Southeast Asia head
Julius Baer rehires senior fund adviser
Robeco Asia chief in 'surprise' resignation
StanChart closures seen to have littlle buy-side impact