VALUE PARTNERS NAMES SOLE COO AS HEPPER  RETIRES

Hong Kong's Value Partners has appointed Patricia Cheung, currently co-chief operating officer, as sole COO with effect from May 1. Her co-COO, Roger Hepper, will retire from the fund house at the end of April.

Cheung and Hepper have been co-COOs since July 2019. Cheung joined Value Partners in August 2018, while Hepper has been with the firm since August 2016.

The appointment follows a recent round of layoffs after a challenging few years for Value Partners.

SCHRODERS NAMES DEPUTY CEO FOR SINGAPORE

Lily Choh

Schroders promoted Lily Choh to deputy chief executive for Singapore on April 6, in addition to her role as head of institutional for Asia Pacific, the British asset manager said in a statement.

In the newly created role, Choh manages the day-to-day running of the Southeast Asia business and joins the board of directors. She has taken on those duties from Susan Soh, who was promoted to co-head of Asia Pacific alongside Chris Durack on April 1, in addition to remaining head of Singapore. 

Choh continues to report to Soh and to lead the distribution teams in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, according to a press statement.

CSOP REPLACES HEAD OF QUANT INVESTMENT

Wang Yi

Hong Kong-based CSOP Asset Management has promoted Wang Yi to head of quantitative investment to succeed Louis Lu, who left the firm on March 31.

Wang was previously head of risk management at CSOP and will retain that role during the transition, a company spokesman said.

He added that CSOP had not yet decided whether it would hire someone to succeed Wang given the challenging market conditions.

AsianInvestor could not ascertain Lu’s next destination.

MAS CREATES NEW DEPARTMENT, NAMES HEAD

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has set up an enterprise knowledge department to strengthen its data management and promoted Celine Sia to oversee it, as assistant managing director of economics and knowledge management.

Effective April 6, Sia oversees three departments: economic analysis; economic surveillance and forecasting; and enterprise knowledge.

Reporting to Edward Robinson, deputy managing director of economic policy, she was previously an executive director in the economic surveillance and forecasting department.

An MAS spokeswoman said Tu Suh-Ping had replaced Sia as head of the economic surveillance and forecasting department. Tu will also remain chief of Singapore economy analysis, she added.

FWD APPOINTS CONSULTANT IN SINGAPORE

FWD, a Hong Kong-based insurance firm, has this month appointed Azim Mithani, an industry veteran with actuarial expertise, as a consultant in Singapore, according to his LinkedIn profile.  

He has worked for various other insurers, including as chief operating officer for Prudential Corporation Asia and chief executive at Prudential BSN Takaful. 

Neither Mithani nor FWD immediately responded to requests for comment.

KKR APPOINTS PRIVATE EQUITY MD IN JAPAN

Alternative investment giant KKR said it had added Hidekazu Harada, a former Bank of America Merrill Lynch veteran, as a managing director on its private equity team in Tokyo.

He is a senior member of the team tasked with originating and transacting deals and helping with portfolio company management duties. He reports to Hiro Hirano, co-head of private equity for Asia Pacific and chief executive of KKR Japan. 

A spokeswoman declined to say when Harada joined or who had previously looked after his functions.

Harada was most recently Japan co-head of investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment on when he left or who had succeeded him.

In addition, Harada had also worked in M&A at Daiwa Securities SMBC and at ChuoAoyama PricewaterhouseCoopers (now PwC Japan Group).

EM PORTFOLIO MANAGER RETIRES FROM CAPITAL GROUP 

Emerging market equity portfolio manager Ric Torres will leave Capital Group in June after 26 years with the US fund house.

London-based Torres on March 31 handed over his responsibilities as co-manager of the emerging market growth and emerging market total opportunities funds, a spokeswoman said.

A fellow PM, Arthur Caye, has been appointed portfolio manager of the EM total opportunities fund, but no additional PM has been put on the EM growth fund team, said the spokeswoman.

RAFFLES FAMILY OFFICE APPOINTS STRATEGIC ADVISER

Singapore-based Raffles Family Office has appointed Simon Lints to the newly created role of strategic adviser, effective April 1.

Based in the Lion City, Lints will advise on strategic expansion and business development with a focus on Southeast Asia. He reports to founder and chief executive Kwan Chiman.

Lints joined from Schroders, where he was Singapore head of wealth management. He left the firm in mid-December last year, a spokesman said. He was replaced by Robert Ridland in January, who was previously Hong Kong head of wealth management.

Sylvia Lau
Sylvia Lau

JLL NAMES GREATER CHINA HEAD OF VALUATION AND ADVISORY

Property services firm JLL has expanded the role of Sylvia Lau to head of valuation and advisory services for Greater China, effective from April. Her remit was previously China. 

JLL did not immediately respond to a query about how Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan had been overseen previously.

Based in Hong Kong, Lau oversees around 300 valuation experts across China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. She reports to KK Fung, JLL's chief executive for Greater China. 

WHITE & CASE HIRES M&A PARTNER IN SEOUL 

Lee Dongho

New York-based law firm White & Case has added Lee Dongho as a Seoul-based partner in its global mergers-and-acquisitions practice.

Having started on April 1, Lee advises Korean and global clients on cross-border M&A transactions, investments, strategic alliances and joint ventures, as well as on capital market transactions.

Lee joined from law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, where he was head of the Seoul office and the corporate practice there. He left on March 31, a spokeswoman said.

Herbert Smith partner Mike McClure has taken over as head of the Seoul office, while the corporate team is now led by Ken Nam and Charles Kim.

HSBC PRIVATE BANKING NAMES ASIA COO 

HSBC Private Banking has named Sharon Oh as Asia chief operating officer, to replace Gaurav Rao, who recently moved to London for another role within the private bank. 

Hong Kong-based Oh will report to Tan Siew-Meng, Asia Pacific head of HSBC Private Banking, and Anil Venuturualli, global COO of the business.

HSBC did not respond to requests for more detail on the changes.

Oh was most recently chief of staff in the London-based global institutional client segment at JP Morgan Private Bank, a spokeswoman confirmed. She declined to reveal when Oh left the firm or whether she had been replaced.

Prior to that, Oh spent five years with JP Morgan Private Bank's Hong Kong-based unit and was also previously Credit Suisse's North Asia COO.

Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:

Exit of Asia division heads sparks changes at BlackRock

GPF seeks to expand its in-house investing expertise

Baillie Gifford sets up trading desk in Hong Kong

Barings shrinks equity teams, cuts sovereign client focus