GIC group president Lim Siong Guan to hand over to incoming CEO Lim Chow Kiat (Amended)

GIC group president Lim Siong Guan, 69, will be handing over the reins of leading the Singapore sovereign wealth fund to Lim Chow Kiat, 46, who will be its chief executive officer come Jan 1, 2017.

GIC announced on Monday evening a slew of changes to its top brass. They will come into effect just eight months after a previous shuffle.

The younger Mr Lim is currently the group's chief investment officer and deputy group president. He was appointed to the latter designation in April.

The elder Mr Lim will retire, and be appointed adviser to the GIC Group executive committee on Jan 1, 2017, wrote the release.

Four other appointments have also been made that will take effect on the same day.

Jeffrey Jaensubhakij will be group chief investment officer. He will relinquish his current roles of deputy group chief investment officer and president for the public markets portfolio.

Lim Kee Chong will take on the concurrent appointment of president covering the Americas, and will be based in New York. He will remain as deputy group chief investment officer and director of the integrated strategies group.

Tay Lim Hock will be appointed deputy group chief investment officer and take on the concurrent appointment of president covering Europe, and be based in London. He will also be adviser on private equity and infrastructure. He will relinquish his current role as president of the private equity and infrastructure portfolio.

Goh Kok Huat will continue as chief operating officer, with his concurrent appointment as adviser on real estate. He will relinquish his current role as president overseeing the real estate portfolio.

The investment functions and responsibilities of Dr Jaensubhakij, Mr Tay and Mr Goh as president of public markets, president of private equity and infrastructure, and president of real estate respectively will be taken over by the five chief investment officers in their respective areas, namely: Bryan Yeo King Ming for public equities, Liew Tzu Mi for fixed income, Choo Yong Cheen for private equity, Ang Eng Seng for infrastructure, and Lee Kok Sun for real estate.

The titles of "president of public markets", "president of private equity and infrastructure", and "president of real estate" will cease to be used, said GIC.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is chairman of GIC, noted outgoing group president Mr Lim's contributions to the fund, saying that he had groomed future leaders, built a "fit and flexible" organisational structure and imbued it with sound values and ideals.

"Mr Lim's time at GIC coincided with an extremely challenging period for global markets. His leadership enabled GIC to work cohesively towards a shared and worthy goal - to steward and invest our foreign reserves wisely and prudently, for the benefit of present and future generations of Singaporeans," said Mr Lee.

GIC is the world's eighth-biggest state fund with US$350 billion of assets under management, according to estimates by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.

Amendment note: An earlier version of this article stated that Lim Chow Kiat's age is 45. His age is now 46. The article has been edited to reflect this.