Weekly roundup of people news, Dec 1
CHANEL FAMILY OFFICE HIRES ASIA PE HEAD FROM UAE SWF
Luxury fashion company Chanel’s family office Mousse Partners hired David Yang as head of Asia private equity from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), his LinkedIn showed.
Yang joined in June and is based in Hong Kong.
Before joining the family office, Yang spent five years with ADIA in Abu Dhabi until June this year, and was most recently head of China private equities. AsianInvestor understands that the sovereign wealth fund is in the process of recruiting a replacement.
Prior to ADIA, Yang was managing director with CVC Capital Partners in Shanghai for nearly three years, according to his LinkedIn.
New York-based Mousse Partners oversees a proprietary global portfolio of alternative investments. It has offices in New York, Beijing, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. It is a division of Mousse Investments Limited, whose portfolio includes Chanel Limited.
Chanel is owned by the Wertheimer family, which is among the world’s richest families with a fortune of about $90 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Mousse Partners did not respond to an enquiry about Yang’s appointment.
EX-JPMAM AUSTRALIA HEAD JOINS UK PENSION FUND
Rachel Farrell, the previous head of JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) in Australia, has joined Nest, a $63 billion (£33 billion) pension fund in the UK.
After a 10-year tenure as JPMAM's Australia head, Farrell was appointed director of public and private markets at Nest on November 27. She has relocated from Australia to London.
She is responsible for guiding the expansion of Nest's portfolio under the supervision of Nest's Chief Investment Officer Liz Fernando.
Farrell's journey with JPMAM began in 2011 in Singapore, where she served as head of sovereign and institutional clients for South and Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. She later held the same role in Hong Kong, in charge of Asia Pacific.
In 2016, she moved to Sydney to lead JPMAM's local business, becoming the first CEO and country head for Australia.
Before that, Farrell held roles at Citigroup Private Bank and Bankers Trust.
FOSUN ASSET MANAGEMENT CEO LARRY ZHANG LEAVES
Larry Zhang Yiqing, chief executive officer of Fosun Asset Management, stepped down in November, a year after joining the company.
Fosun Asset Management is the Hong Kong-based asset management arm of Chinese conglomerate Fosun International.
Dong Sijie, the firm’s global partner and senior assistant president of Fosun International, has become CEO, according to Fosun Asset Management’s website.
Zhang has nearly 30 years of experience in the asset management industry.
Before joining Fosun in 2022, he was chief investment officer at Ping An Asset Management.
Prior to that, he also served as head of public equity investment at China Investment Corporation in Beijing, and partner of hedge fund GSA Capital in London.
Fosun Asset Management didn’t respond to an enquiry about Zhang's departure.
CHINAAMC HIRES BUSINESS HEAD FROM AMUNDI
China Asset Management (ChinaAMC) Hong Kong hired Heidi Cai as head of international business on November 16, based in Hong Kong, the firm confirmed to AsianInvestor.
In the newly created role, Cai will be responsible for strengthening the firm’s international business development and expansion.
She reports to Gan Tian, CEO of ChinaAMC Hong Kong.
Cai joined from Amundi in Hong Kong, where she spent almost four years and was most recently head of ETF, indexing and smart beta for North Asia.
Amundi declined to comment on her departure.
Cai has also held institutional relationship management roles for ETF products with State Street Global Advisors and BlackRock.
T ROWE PRICE EXPANDS ASIA INTERMEDIARY DISTRIBUTION TEAM
Investment management firm T Rowe Price has appointed Daisy Leung as director of intermediary distribution in Greater China, effective November 21, and Claudia Phuah as associate director of intermediary distribution in Southeast Asia, effective November 27.
Based in Hong Kong, Leung will develop and manage relationships with intermediary clients based in Hong Kong and Taiwan in this newly created role.
She reports to Hong Kong-based Priscilla Leung, head of intermediary business in Greater China.
Prior to joining T Rowe Price, Leung worked at Ninety One, and before that Janus Henderson Investors and BOCI Prudential Asset Management, where she held distribution and business development roles.
Phuah, based in Singapore, reports to Nick Tong, head of Southeast Asia intermediary distribution.
Phuah previously served as a member of the client development team for the wealth management business at Credit Suisse (now merged with UBS).
Prior to that, Phuah held Southeast Asia roles at JP Morgan and HSBC.
GOLUB CAPITAL HIRES IN HONG KONG
Direct lender and credit asset manager Golub Capital has appointed Amy Chiang as managing director of Greater China and Southeast Asia.
Chiang will be based in Golub’s newly opened Hong Kong office.
Chiang has been based in Hong Kong and Singapore for most of her fund career.
She most recently served as head of Greater China and Southeast Asia at Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus did not respond to AsianInvestor’s enquiries at the time of publication.
Chiang has previously held roles at Park Hill Group of PJT Partners, GCM Grosvenor and Standard Chartered.
MIRAE APPOINTS CO-CEOS
Mirae Asset Global Investments decided to appoint two vice chairmen, Choi Chang-hoon and Rhie Chun-yong, as its chief executive officers (CEOs) at a shareholders meeting on November 23.
Rhie has been leading investments, including managing the company's international branches in the UK, the US and Brazil.
He was promoted to vice chairman last month.
Choi, who secured a second consecutive term after his initial appointment in 2021, is a real estate expert with over 25 years of experience. Mirae could not be reached for for comment on whom Choi replaces.
The company will have four general representatives, including two CEOs, to lead its management. Both CEOs' terms are two years.
The other two representatives are Kim Young, president of global management, and Lee Byeong-seong, chief marketing officer.
GLOBAL SWF MD RELOCATES TO SINGAPORE
Diego Lopez, managing director of Global SWF, a consultancy tracking sovereign wealth funds, has relocated to Singapore from New York.
The consultancy plans to fuel its next phase of growth from the Asian base.
A well-known expert on SWFs, Lopez has worked as an external consultant for the World Bank and the United Nations and supported the establishment and reformulation of several SWFs around the world.
Prior to setting up Global SWF, he helped to build up PwC’s footprint in the SWF industry as director and COO of the global practice.
He has previously worked with Accuracy and KPMG as well.
The research entity has research and sales staff in New York, London, Singapore and Qatar.
KOREA LIFE INSURANCE ASSOCIATION TAPS NEW CHAIRMAN
The Korea Life Insurance Association has tapped Kim Chul-ju, head of the Creditors' Coordination Committee, as its new chairman.
The Korea Life Insurance Association's incumbent chairman Chung Hee-soo's term ends December 8. He will serve his three-year term to December 2026, once his nomination is formally approved by the association.
After taking the post as deputy dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute, Kim was named chairman of the Creditors’ Coordination Committee in 2021.
Kim has held various positions at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, as well as had overseas stints as an economist at the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.