Choo Yong Cheen currently serves as CIO for private equity (Image: GIC)
Singapore sovereign fund GIC has promoted Choo Yong Cheen and Liew Tzu Mi to deputy group chief investment officers at the $936 billion state investor.
The appointments take effect from 1 October, with Choo, currently chief investment officer for private equity, and Liew, GIC’s chief investment officer for fixed income and multi asset, both reporting to group CIO Bryan Yeo.
Choo will oversee private-market asset classes including private equity, real estate and infrastructure. Liew will take responsibility for total portfolio research and strategy while retaining leadership of the portfolio execution and solutions group. GIC also named Liang Jiajie, currently deputy CIO for fixed income and multi asset, as CIO for that group.
“The global investment environment is increasingly complex and requires more cross domain leadership,” GIC CEO Lim Chow Kiat said Friday in a release. “These promotions will enable us to benefit from synergies across our diverse set of strategies and create more value for the total portfolio.”
Portfolio Veterans
Choo has served as GIC’s CIO for private equity since July 2016, overseeing a portfolio that spans buyouts, minority growth investments, pre-IPOs, venture capital, private credit and special situations.
Liew Tzu Mi currently serves as CIO for fixed income and multi asset (Image: GIC)
The veteran investor joined GIC in 1996 and initially held roles in the sovereign fund’s economics and strategy department before transferring to equities in 2002 to manage an Asia regional portfolio focused on China.
Choo moved to GIC special investments in 2011 to lead the firm’s private equity business across Asia, before relocating to London in 2014 to run GIC’s European private equity business.
Liew was appointed CIO for fixed income and multi asset in July 2016, overseeing GIC’s global macro, corporate credit and structured finance businesses. In April, she was named director of the portfolio execution and solutions group, which handles liquidity management, balance sheet management and portfolio execution.
Liew joined GIC in 1998 and built her career in the fixed income department, serving in roles including head of emerging markets, macro research and strategy, and global macro before being named head of fixed income in 2015. She also chairs GIC’s currency risk management committee and sustainability committee.
Succession Moves
The latest appointments follow a set of leadership changes announced in April as GIC marked its 45th anniversary, including the addition of Mark Ong, CIO for public equities, and Boon Chin Hau, CIO for infrastructure, to the group executive committee.
GIC also appointed Bridgewater Associates co-CIO Bob Prince to its international advisory board, with Prince also serving as an advisor to the fund’s investment strategies committee.
The Singapore firm reported last July that its portfolio achieved an annualised nominal US dollar return of 5.7 percent for the 20 years ended 31 March 2025, with the real return after adjusting for global inflation standing at 3.8 percent.
GIC’s shorter-term nominal returns stood at 5 percent over 10 years and 6.1 percent over five years, while Global SWF estimated the fund’s assets under management at $936 billion after the release of the 2024/25 report.
The sovereign investor’s results for the year ended 31 March 2026 are expected later this month, as Yeo’s investment leadership team positions the portfolio for an environment marked by higher volatility, geopolitical tension and expanding opportunities in private markets.