Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital has named a Riyadh-based dealmaker as managing director for its new Saudi Arabia private equity business, with the hire leading this week’s look at personnel moves from around Asia Pacific’s real estate industry. Also making the list is a promotion at GLP Capital Partners’ corporate finance team and Australian Retirement Trust’s hire of a veteran portfolio manager from the New South Wales government’s investment arm.
Gaw Capital Partners has appointed Khalid AlBihlal as managing director with its private equity for Saudi Arabia, according to a LinkedIn announcement marking the Hong Kong manager’s opening of a Saudi office. Based in Riyadh, AlBihlal will lead fundraising and investment across Gaw’s alternative investments platform, tied to the GCC Tamkeen Nexus Fund the company launched earlier this year. AlBihlal joins after six months as business development chief at Saudi Venture Capital Company, and earlier spent two years at mortgage guarantor Damanat and three years running S&P Global Ratings’ Riyadh office. The hire follows Gaw’s hire of Elizabeth Di Cioccio to lead EMEA capital markets.
GLP Capital Partners has promoted Irene Kwok to managing director for corporate finance and strategic investments, according to a LinkedIn update. Kwok joined parent GLP in 2021 as an executive director for corporate finance, moving to GLP Capital Partners in 2024 as senior vice president. She spent the prior decade at JP Morgan in Hong Kong and New York, rising from analyst to executive director for real estate, gaming and lodging in the company’s investment banking division. The promotion follows GLP Capital Partners’ $3.7 billion sale of its non-China fund business to Ares last year.
Australian Retirement Trust has hired James Freeman as portfolio manager with its real estate team in Sydney, according to a LinkedIn update. Freeman joins after five years as senior manager for real estate at TCorp, the New South Wales government’s investment manager, where he oversaw co-investment real estate strategy across the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Freeman earlier spent 18 months as fund manager of the ASX-listed Australian Unity Office Fund, two years as a Mirvac portfolio manager and a decade at Investa, where he rose to portfolio manager of a $1.6 billion Sydney office portfolio.
Tony Randello has stepped down as chief executive of Aveo Group, with his last day set for 21 September, according to a LinkedIn update. Randello, who joined the retirement living operator in 2020 after Brookfield recruited him from Lendlease, oversaw a turnaround from more than 1,700 unsold homes to 97 percent occupancy, culminating in last year’s A$3.85 billion sale of Aveo by Brookfield to The Living Company. He is also stepping down as president of the Retirement Living Council. Randello spent nearly 16 years at Lendlease, including four as managing director of its retirement living business.
Jardine Matheson has named Kevin O’Brien as chief executive of Jardine Engineering & Infrastructure, a new business combining Jardine Engineering Corporation, Jardine Schindler, Gammon Construction and Hactl, according to a company announcement. As part of a set of personnel changes taking effect from 1 October, O’Brien moves up from chief executive of Gammon Construction with Stanley Chen taking over that role on an acting basis. Jardine Matheson also named David Muir, its head of finance, as the new unit’s chief financial officer, and hired Justin Wang, a managing director at Anchor Equity Partners, as chief corporate development officer. The restructuring follows a plan outlined in June under chief executive Lincoln Pan.
Wang On Group deputy chair and executive director Yau Yuk Yin, 64, has left the board after shareholders voted 95.24 percent against her re-election at the annual general meeting on 19 August, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. Every other resolution at the meeting, including the re-election of her husband, chairman Tang Ching Ho, passed with roughly 99.99 percent of votes cast, with Tang’s family controlling roughly 42.8 percent of Wang On. Yau, who co-founded the company with her husband, had served as deputy chairman since 1993 and also leaves the executive, remuneration and nomination committees, with her daughter-in-law, Stephanie Tang, taking over both of those roles.
SC Capital Partners has hired Kyu Baek Kim as director of investments in Hong Kong, according to a LinkedIn update. Kim joins after seven and a half years with Ovolo Hotels and its investment arm, TriO Capital, where he served most recently as a vice president. Having focuesed on acquisitions across Asia Pacific, Australia, Europe and the United States for TriO, Kim had earlier spent 15 months as a valuation analyst at HVS in Singapore. The hire follows SC Capital’s recruitment of hotel veteran Christopher Hur as managing director.
Rava Partners has hired Yichen (Leo) Wang for an investment role in Shanghai, according to a LinkedIn update, as Hillhouse’s real assets platform builds out life sciences and logistics strategies across China. Wang spent five years and four months on investment and capital markets at CBC Group’s life science real assets platform, and earlier worked on data centre and logistics investments at GLP Capital Partners. He holds a master’s in real estate development from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Tsinghua University.
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