The firm today made a surprise announcement of several earlier senior role changes involving new dual roles and elimination of positions.
Icy Wong has been moved into a dual role as chief financial officer and chief administrative officer, where she leads the group’s financial and administrative functions and is responsible for the group’s investor relations. She joined Value Partners in June 2008, according to the statement.
Wong had been the CFO only. She adds the extra duty as CAO.
Additionally, Patricia Cheung was moved to group chief operating officer, overseeing business operations.
Cheung, who had been co-COO, shared the position with Roger Hepper, who a firm spokeswoman said has retired. Value Partners eliminated the position of co-COO.
Both Wong and Cheung are based in Hong Kong.
On the fund management side, Conor Yuan was lured over from UBS to serve as a senior fund manager, responsible for credit and fixed income investments. Yuan is responsible for credit and fixed income investments and is involved in the management of existing fixed income portfolios, the spokeswoman said.
He was previously an executive director and head of flow credit trading in Apac at UBS, based in Hong Kong. Prior to that, he held roles in Asia credit trading at Citigroup and Nomura in Hong Kong, the firm said.
The firm also said it hired Marko Tutavac earlier this year as a senior director of institutional business and consultant relations.
Most recently, Tutavac was the managing director of distribution at Cap Connect Asia, according to his Linkedin page.
The spokeswoman said Yuan and Tutavac did not replace anyone, but did not elaborate.
The announcement follows after a number of employees left the firm last year. In April, Rev Hui stepped down as senior manager of marketing and communications and has been replaced by Lei Xuan from S&P Global Market Intelligence. In July, investment analyst Zachary Ong left the firm to join Schroders. In October, distribution specialist Vicky Yick joined American Century as managing director of Asia intermediaries.
Before the steep downturn in 2020, Value Partners reported strong performance. In 2019, net profit rose 123.7% to HK$513.4m ($66m) in 2019 from HK$229.5m in 2018, driven by investment gains, FSA previously reported.
It is unclear how Value Partners fared through the global pandemic period and subsequent recession. Management does not report quarterly results, according to a firm spokeswoman.
As of the end of April, Value Partners’ AUM was at $11.3bn, down from $15.bn in end-December, according to the firm’s monthly AUM reports to shareholders.
