Weekly roundup of people news, Aug 22
ING IM builds out EM equities team
Dutch firm ING Investment Management International has appointed Ashish Goyal to the newly created Singapore-based role of head of global emerging market equities, effective October 1. He will report to Eric Siegloff, global deputy chief investment officer.
Goyal joins from Mustang Capital, which he joined this April as a director, according to his LinkedIn profile. ING could not be reached for more detail about the firm by press time.
Before that, Goyal worked at Eastspring Investments, most recently as investment director. He spent 16 years at the Prudential-owned group.
His new role at ING was created as part of a drive to build an EM equities boutique.
Also part of the buildout, Robert Holmes will join ING IM early next month. Based in London, he will take over responsibility for the group’s emerging Europe strategies and report to Goyal. He joins from Griffin Capital Management, where he was a fund manager for the past seven years.
“Until now, emerging market equity strategies have been present in various teams (equity value, specialty equities, multi-asset), but we haven’t had a separate EM equity boutique since our EM [equities and debt] boutique was reorganised into a pure EM debt boutique a number of years ago,” a spokesman told AsianInvestor.
The group has been restructuring its IM business into a multi-boutique model in a bid to give portfolio management teams more autonomy and accountability.
A slew of fund managers and senior executives left after ING announced in 2012 that it would sell some of its Asian investment and insurance franchises to repay a $12.9 billion state bailout dating back to the 2008 financial crisis.
Allianz GI adds pensions adviser
Allianz Global Investors has appointed Joe Moody as a London-based adviser in its global solutions business, effective August 1.
In the newly created role, he is responsible for advising on risk and pension management for pension funds and institutional clients.
The position was created as Allianz GI aims to create more bespoke investment strategies for its global institutional clients. Moody has been tasked with hiring local specialists in the regions he is in charge of.
He is in the process of hiring a specialist to head the solutions team in Japan.
Reporting to Arun Ratra, head of global solutions, Moody manages teams in Japan, as well as the US, the UK and Europe ex-Germany.
Before joining Allianz GI, he was a senior independent adviser to Pacific Global Advisors in New York. He worked with the company on business development projects.
Prior to joining Pacific Global in June 2012, he was global head of liability-driven investment at State Street Global Advisors.
Allianz GI’s global solutions business advises clients with combined assets of €41 billion ($54 billion), as of June 30.
Jones Day poaches PE partner
from White & Case
Law firm Jones Day has poached Chong Mae Shan from rival White & Case to become a partner in its private equity practice. She joined earlier this month in Singapore.
Chong advises PE and corporate clients, as well as investment banks and hedge funds, on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, buyouts and corporate reorganisations.
She has advised clients on transactions in Asia, including in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore.
PE activity has picked up in terms of fund formation, downstream buyouts and minority investments, said Singapore-based PE partner Dennis Barsky.
“I think the increase in activity is based on a number of market factors – better economy/investor confidence in the US, low interest rates, the search for yield and more stable political environments in India and Indonesia,” he told AsianInvestor.
Chong worked at White & Case from August 2011 to July 2014.
Ipsos appoints new HK head
Research firm Ipsos has named Mick Gordon as its new managing director for Hong Kong, effective September 12. He replaces Darlene Lee, who is leaving the company and relocating to New York for family reasons.
Gordon was previously Ipsos’s India chief executive since January 2012. In India, he managed the group’s research services in the consumer and health segments.
Ipsos provides research for more than 500 financial services companies globally.
Swift names new Japan head
Financial messaging systems provider Swift appointed Yuji Takei as head of its operations in Japan earlier this month. Based in Tokyo, he reports to Eddie Haddad, managing director for Asia Pacific.
Swift could not be reached by press time for comment on who had held the role previously.
Takei joins from International Data Group, where he had been president and CEO of IDG Japan and IDG Interactive, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before that, he was president and chief executive of credit research firm Dun & Bradstreet Japan.
Other people news reported by AsianInvestor in the past week:
CreditEase building out investment, wealth units
SuMi Trust pares asset services in HK: sources
RBC’s asset management arm hires international CEO
UBS WM to name new head of global distribution
Nikko AM to boost multi-asset team, launch strategy
Manulife AM creates multi-asset head role
Family office concept gains traction in India