M&G Investments today announced that Loretta Ng will be joining to head its Asia business on 1 November 2019, according to a statement from the firm.
Ng will replace Alex Jeffrey who recently left the firm to join Savills Investment Management, a spokesman for the firm told FSA.
Global real estate manager Savills brought in Jeffrey in April this year and he is based in Singapore.
In her new role at M&G Investments, Ng will also be based in Singapore, and will report to Joffy Willcocks, the firm’s head of distribution for asset management.
Ng joins from Eastspring, where she served as CEO of the Taiwan business since 2011. Prior to this, she was chief marketing officer of in Taiwan, and head of product, marketing and business operations in Singapore.
She also served on the board of Eastspring’s asset management joint venture in China for three years, the statement noted.
Prudential is the parent company of both Eastspring and M&G Investments. On 21 October, M&G is expected to de-merge from its parent company and list on the London Stock Exchange.
Ng’s hire “builds upon M&G’s successful growth of its Asian real estate investment portfolio, and its recent investment in Asian equity fund management and research, with four investment professionals based in Hong Kong and Singapore joining the business in September”, the statement added.
Eastspring shakeup
Since the beginning of the year, Singapore-based Eastspring has seen several key departures.
In January, FSA reported that chief executive officer Guy Strapp left the firm along with chief financial officer Ted Pull and chief operating officer Phil Stockwell.
In 2018, Hong Kong-based Michele Bang, Eastspring’s former deputy chief executive and global head of distribution, was moved to head digital initiatives at parent company Prudential. She left the firm last month.
The departures signal a major change in leadership at the Asian investment management firm. Strapp, who held the top job for six of the 12 years he spent at the firm, was replaced by former State Street Asia CEO Wai-Kwong Seck in April this year.
However, a spokesperson told FSA earlier that despite the turmoil at the top, “the strategy and business plan for Eastspring remain unchanged”.
The firm has recently been buying stakes in local Thai asset managers, FSA reported earlier.
