Weekly roundup of people news, April 17
HARBOURVEST HIRES EX-HEAD OF ALTS AT JAPAN POST INSURANCE
Tadasu Matsuo has left Japan Post Insurance, where he was head of alternative investments, to join private markets asset manager HarbourVest Partners as co-head of Japan alongside Tatsuya Kubo.
Matsuo started in the newly created role on April 2, a spokeswoman said.
At Japan Post Insurance, Matsuo had overseen the global alternatives investment programme, covering private equity, infrastructure, real estate funds and hedge funds. JPI could not be reached for comment.
Before joining JPI in September 2016, Matsuo was senior managing director at Alternative Investment Capital, a private equity fund-of-funds firm in Japan. He has also worked at Daido Life Insurance, Nippon Life Insurance and consultancy PwC.
ALLIANZ SEEKS PROPERTY ACQUISITIONS EXEC FOR GREATER CHINA
Allianz Real Estate, the property investment arm of German insurance group Allianz, is looking for a vice president of acquisitions for Greater China.
The new recruit will be based in Shanghai as part of the Asia Pacific acquisitions team under Danny Phuan. Phuan joined as head of the desk, a newly created role, in December and reports to Rushabh Desai, Asia Pacific chief executive of Allianz Real Estate.
The deadline for applications is April 30, according to the job description.
ANDREW SWAN RESURFACES AT MAN GLG
Man GLG, an absolute-return and long-only manager and part of the UK’s Man Group, has hired Andrew Swan from BlackRock as head of Asia ex-Japan equities.
Due to start in the middle of the third quarter, Swan will set up and manage a concentrated long-only Asia ex-Japan equity strategy. Based in Sydney, he will report to Man GLG chief executive Teun Johnston. A spokeswoman declined to provide more precise timing for Swan's arrival.
Swan will have support from research analysts based in Asia Pacific, but the spokeswoman declined to say whether he would have a mandate to hire.
Man GLG has not had a head of Asia equities since May 2015, when David Mercurio left the firm.
At BlackRock Swan was head of Asia and global emerging market fundamental equities, and his departure has led to a reorganisation there. His responsibilities for managing various strategies are being spread among other members of the team.
Swan had joined the US fund house in Hong Kong in 2011, before which he spent 17 years at JP Morgan in various Asia-Pacific equity investment roles.
MANULIFE IM NAMES ASIA AND GLOBAL HEADS OF ESG
Manulife Investment Management has named Asia and global heads for its environmental, social and governance (ESG) division, effective April 7.
Eric Nietsch has been promoted to Asia head of ESG from his previous role as regional director for ESG integration and research. Based in Singapore, he joined the firm late last year from S&P Global Ratings.
There was no Asia head of ESG role previously; Nietsch had effectively held the position as the most senior ESG executive in the region, a spokesman said.
Nietsch reports to Peter Mennie, who has been appointed global head of ESG research and integration. He replaces Emily Chew, who left in early April having been in the role since September 2016.
Based in London, Mennie was previously global head of investment risk management and quantitative analytics, and he will retain those responsibilities. He reports to Christopher Conkey, global head of public markets.
Mennie built and led Manulife IM's ESG team from 2014 to 2016, and it has since reported into him. He is now directly leading the team again, following Chew's departure.
To support Mennie, Amirali Assef has been promoted to deputy head of investment risk from managing director for investment risk.
AXA LAUNCHES ARCHITAS MULTI-MANAGER BUSINESS IN ASIA
French insurance group Axa has launched the Asian arm of its multi-manager business Architas in Hong Kong and appointed three leadership executives on April 6.
Zaid Alrifai is the new head of Architas Asia, Vo Mai Khanh chief investment officer and Beatrice Jiang head of legal and compliance.
The trio were all formerly part of Axa's investment-linked product business in Asia, a spokesman told AsianInvestor. Alrifai was head of business development, Vo head of investments and Jiang head of legal and compliance.
Architas Asia will initially have a total of seven employees, comprising both transfers from Axa and external hires, and expects to recruit more as the business grows, the spokesman said.
Axa previously sold Architas products through its own team, but the multi-asset management firm now has a dedicated team in the region, he added.
Architas Asia will also have two offshore responsible officers: Architas’s global head of client group, Nicolas Deschamps, and global chief investment officer Jaime Arguello.
Architas has €35 billion ($37.6 billion) in assets under management globally.
BNP PARIBAS AM APPOINTS NEW INDONESIA HEAD
BNP Paribas Asset Management has named Priyo Santoso as president director of its Indonesia arm, effective April 14.
Based in Jakarta, he reports to Ligia Torres, Hong Kong-based chief executive for Asia Pacific. He replaces Vivian Secakusuma, who left the firm in the fourth quarter of 2019 after working for the firm since 2010, a spokesman for BNP Paribas AM said.
Santoso was previously chief investment officer for the Indonesia arm of Italian insurer Generali. The firm declined to comment on the departure of Santoso.
UNITED MANAGERS JAPAN POACHES APS'S CIO
The former chief investment officer for Japan at Singapore's APS Asset Management, Hiromitsu Kawakita, has joined hedge fund firm United Managers Japan, effective April 10.
Relocating from his previous Singapore-based role to Tokyo, Kwakita reports to Masahiro Koshiba, chief executive of United Managers Japan. His role has been created to look after a new equity strategy that will invest mostly in Japanese stocks.
Koshiba had been responsible for Japanese equities before leaving APS on April 9 following the firm’s decision to focus on China and at the expense of other Asia strategies, an APS spokesman said.
BANK OF SINGAPORE LOSES GLOBAL PRODUCT HEAD
The private banking arm of Singapore’s OCBC has started the process of replacing Van de Walle, who has a three-month notice period, the spokesman said.
Van de Walle had started with Bank of Singapore upon its inception in 2009 when OCBC acquired ING’s Asia wealth management business. He had previously spent around 12 years at the Dutch bank.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week: