logo
Link Reit CEO George Hongchoy retires after 16 years at company

Link Reit CEO George Hongchoy retires after 16 years at company

Business Times5 days ago
[SINGAPORE] The group CEO of Link Asset Management Limited, George Hongchoy, plans to step down before the end of June 2026.
Hongchoy has held the CEO position for 16 years and will stay on in the role while it searches for a successor, said the property firm in a press release on Tuesday (Jul 22).
Link manages the largest real estate investment trust (Reit) in Asia and will mark 20 years since it launched its initial public offering (IPO) in November 2005.
According to its website, it holds a total portfolio value of HK$226 billion across Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Australia and the United Kingdom. It has assets in the retail, car parks, office, and logistics sectors.
The firm is up 32.2 per cent so far in 2025 on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and has a market capitalisation of HK$112 billion.
Hongchoy was appointed CEO of Link in May 2010, having joined the company as its chief financial officer in January 2009. He has also been a member of the CNBC ESG council since April 2021 and formerly worked in the investment banking, financial consulting and accounting sectors.
Prior to joining Link, Hongchoy was the managing director and head of DBS Asia Capital. He also was the director, head of diversified industries of N M Rothschild & Sons for a year and managing director of investment banking at JPMorgan Securities (Asia Pacific) from 1992 to 2002.
Link Reit was considering a Singapore IPO of its non-Hong Kong and China assets, according to a Bloomberg report last month. It currently owns Jurong Point, Swing By @ Thomson Plaza (which occupies Levels 1 and 3 of the mall) and provides asset and property management for the retail mall AMK Hub, according to its website.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

The rise and fall of New Silk Road, one of the longest-running hedge funds in Singapore
The rise and fall of New Silk Road, one of the longest-running hedge funds in Singapore

Business Times

time2 days ago

  • Business Times

The rise and fall of New Silk Road, one of the longest-running hedge funds in Singapore

[SINGAPORE] Investment management firm New Silk Road announced earlier in July that it will be closing its doors after a 16-year run in Asia. Based in Singapore, it is one of the longest-running hedge funds in the city-state. It is the investment manager of the Asia Landmark Fund, which has onshore and offshore investment structures for US and international investors through a Cayman LP and Cayman offshore feeder fund. So what caused New Silk Road to shutter, and who are its founders? The Business Times explains, and also takes a look at what hedge funds are, and this industry in Singapore. The origins of New Silk Road, and who are its founders? Founded in 2009, the company was started by Raymond Goh, the former head of Asian equities at GIC, and Hoong Yik Luen, the former head of Hong Kong-China equity products at Deutsche Bank. New Silk Road in its early stages was considered a pioneer in the finance scene of Singapore. For context, the Republic's hedge fund market managed S$59 billion pre-2010s, which has since grown to S$327 billion as at December 2024, based on data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Goh and Hoong's hedge fund is known to be one of the earliest in Singapore to invest long-short equities across Asia. Its strength was being among the early foreign investors in China, via an on‑the‑ground Shanghai team. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am Asean Business Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies. Sign Up Sign Up Notably, the company received Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor access in 2012 to invest in Chinese yuan-denominated mainland Chinese stocks and bonds. At the time, fewer than 200 firms received such licences from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. This move attracted a large pool of US institutional investors seeking Asia-centric exposure for their portfolios, drawn to New Silk Road's Asia Landmark Fund and China Fund, New Silk Road's growth trajectory saw an incline since its beginnings, having reached nearly US$2 billion in assets under management in 2021. Goh and Hoong are among the first pioneers in setting up an Asia focused hedge fund. Goh was previously with GIC for 18 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Hoong graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with an electrical engineering degree in 1990. Following that, he was in a few roles involving public and private market equity research and investment with various global firms, according to the NUS website. After his last role as the head of Hong Kong-China equity products at Deutsche Bank in 2008, he co-founded New Silk Road Investment with Goh. Both are crossing 60 years old, Hoong told Bloomberg. China investment slump Hoong told Bloomberg that the main reason for the shuttering of the fund is that they are opting for a slower pace. However, the fund's struggles also came during a time when China markets went into a slump, with China's widespread regulatory crackdown across sectors such as technology and real estate, and investors flocking to US markets. In 2022, China's benchmark CSI 300 Index tumbled by 22 per cent, with the decline extending into 2023. This affected various China investors and caused many funds to close. The China bear market persisted for a couple of years, but has since rebounded this year. Both the Asia Landmark Fund and the China Fund recorded negative returns for three of the past five years, with slumps of 28 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, in 2022, according to Bloomberg, citing sources. These effects were clearly felt by New Silk Road, where it scaled back on staff levels in Shanghai, and closed a recently launched South-east Asia fund, said Hoong. The number of staff affected remained undisclosed. The closure of Hoong and Goh's hedge fund was announced on Jul 22, where all remaining capital will be returned to investors and the vehicles will be shuttered, amid a high level of investor redemptions and weak returns. Experts BT spoke to suggested that once a certain level of investor redemptions is hit, it is difficult for hedge funds to build back their capital. New Silk Road is not the only one to have gone through a rocky decline in Asia in the recent few years, though for a mix of other reasons. Another Singapore hedge fund Asia Genesis, for example, in January 2024 faced a significant level of drawdowns, in the light of its long positions in Hong Kong and China collapsing due to China's market rout, and short bets on the Nikkei crushed as Japan stocks surged to a 34-year high that month. The Asia Genesis Macro fund saw drawdowns of 18.8 per cent within the first weeks of January 2024 following its long-short play went wrong. The fund closed all its positions by Jan 18, 2024, and returned money after its losses to investors. What is a hedge fund, and what are some top hedge funds in Singapore? Within Asia-Pacific, Singapore continues to be an attractive centre for alternative and hedge fund managers to set up their regional investment teams, said MAS last year. The regulator noted that more global hedge fund managers are setting up offices here, with more than 250 of such managers as at the end of 2023. Some top hedge fund managers in Singapore include Quantedge Capital and Dymon Asia Capital. Dymon Asia manages over US$3.5 billion, while Quantedge manages more than US$4 billion. Dymon says its fund posted an 8 per cent return through May this year, topping other funds at global peers. Last year, it was up 17 per cent. Another long-running Singapore hedge fund manager is APS Capital Management, with its founder Wong Kok Hoi also considered an early pioneer in the scene. He was previously with GIC and MAS. Hedge funds are private funds actively managed by portfolio managers, and typically are considered higher-risk and requires a higher investment to start. There are many types of hedge funds, with various strategies ranging from long-short, global macro and multi-strategy. They can invest in a variety of assets, including stocks, fixed income, real estate, currencies and futures. The Singapore hedge fund market totalled S$327 billion as at December, according to data from MAS.

Hong Kong-based digital asset platform OSL Group completes $300 million equity financing
Hong Kong-based digital asset platform OSL Group completes $300 million equity financing

CNA

time2 days ago

  • CNA

Hong Kong-based digital asset platform OSL Group completes $300 million equity financing

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI :Hong Kong-based digital asset platform OSL Group said on Friday it had completed $300 million of equity financing, the latest sign of feverish investor interest in cryptocurrencies. The deal, which the company said was the biggest publicly disclosed equity raise in Asia's digital asset space, comes days before Hong Kong's stablecoin bill takes effect on August 1, and could add fuel to a rally in shares related to virtual assets. OSL shares have surged 120 per cent so far this year. Hong Kong's de facto central bank on Wednesday cautioned against growing frothiness of the market around stablecoins, saying the hype had led to "excessive exuberance". Proceeds from the share sale would be used to support global initiatives including stablecoin development, licensing efforts, and the build-out of a digital payment network, OSL said in a statement. "The funding will accelerate our global build-out - particularly in regulated stablecoin infrastructure and compliant payment rails," said Ivan Wong, chief financial officer of OSL Group. In a statement to the Hong Kong bourse, OSL said the share placing price is HK$14.90 per share, representing a 15.3 per cent discount to its closing price on Thursday, and a 16.2 per cent discount to the average closing price in the last five trading days. Shares of OSL opened down more than 10 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday, as the market reacted to the dilution impact and the discounted placing price. Since transforming last year into a company fully dedicated to digital assets, OSL has secured an exchange licence in Australia and completed acquisitions in Japan and Europe. OSL has also said it would step up investment in the so-called Real-World-Assets business, converting traditional assets into digital tokens.

Chocolate Finance raises US$15 million; CEO says it may still offer instant withdrawals in future
Chocolate Finance raises US$15 million; CEO says it may still offer instant withdrawals in future

CNA

time3 days ago

  • CNA

Chocolate Finance raises US$15 million; CEO says it may still offer instant withdrawals in future

SINGAPORE: Four months after suspending instant withdrawals due to surging demand, Chocolate Finance announced on Thursday (Jul 24) that it has secured US$15 million in fresh funding. The funds were raised from Nikko Asset Management, returning investors Peak XV (previously known as Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia), Prosus, Saison Capital and Chocolate Finance's founder Walter de Oude. The fintech firm plans to use the capital to expand across the region, starting with Hong Kong, where it recently obtained regulatory approval to operate. It expects to launch there in the first quarter of 2026. Expansion into Hong Kong is the 'logical next step' given that the regulatory environment and technological infrastructure is similar to Singapore's, Mr de Oude told CNA in an interview. The company came under scrutiny in March when it halted instant withdrawals after receiving an 'unusually high' volume of requests. Customers withdrew S$500 million (US$392 million) in about two weeks – wiping out around 40 per cent of its assets under management, which had hit US$1 billion the previous month. Its assets under management have not fully recovered, but have hit nearly US$705 million, and profitability is "not too far off", he said. Mr de Oude, who is the company's CEO, said instant withdrawals are not currently 'part of the recipe', though it could be reintroduced in future. 'For the time being', he said, withdrawals will follow a standard process of up to three days. 'We're continuing to look how we can innovate in that space as we roll out, but what we have found is that actually … up to three days for a withdrawal is good enough.' "MORE SUSTAINABLE" APPROACH The March episode came about after Chocolate Finance quietly suspended AXS payments on its debit card and customers accused the company of opaque communication. At the time, the company was offering two miles per dollar on all spending – including education fees and AXS payments – categories where miles are typically excluded. Customers were taking advantage of the scheme and it soon became 'quite evident' that this was unsustainable, Mr de Oude said. 'We have pared that back a little bit to more of a sustainable mileage programme, which is continuing to deliver great miles,' he said. Customers can still earn up to two miles per dollar, but "without loopholes". 'We've had to tweak things a little bit, around our communications and the understanding of our products and services,' said Mr de Oude. 'And potentially be ... more sustainable around the freebies and benefits we give in a launch.' Chocolate Finance, which invests its customers' money into fixed-income funds, has 100,000 users in Singapore. The company previously raised US$19 million in 2022. Mr de Oude said the confidence shown by existing and new investors reflects the strength of its business. He added that Chocolate Finance will take lessons from its Singapore experience to Hong Kong, with a "slightly less agressive" approach to growth. 'When you run promotions, you can be very generous in your promotions and the more generous you are, the more traction you get. But do you need to have as much promotion when your product is good enough, in and of itself?'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store