C&W's Christine Li to join Knight Frank; Colliers hires JLL's Joseph Yee

SINGAPORE'S property circles have been seeing several moves by executives of late, involving industry veterans.

Christine Li, head of research for Singapore and South-east Asia at Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), will be leaving the New York-listed real estate services firm after close to two years in the role, The Business Times (BT) has learnt.

She is moving to rival firm Knight Frank Asia-Pacific, where she is set to assume the role of research head for the Asia-Pacific region, potentially within the next couple of months, sources told BT.

She has been with C&W for about six years in total. Since last April, she has also been the head of business development services for Singapore and South-east Asia. Before C&W, she led OrangeTee's research and consultancy team for two years.

Both Knight Frank and C&W declined to comment on the personnel changes when approached by BT.

Meanwhile, Colliers International confirmed it has brought on board June Chua, previously with C&W, as its executive director and head of office services for Singapore.

She used to head C&W's Singapore leasing team, which specialises in office, industrial and retail transactions. She spent 10 years at C&W, says her LinkedIn profile, and has more than two decades of experience in real estate. Prior to C&W, she helmed the commercial leasing team at Savills Singapore.

At Colliers, where she started on Monday, she will focus specifically on growing the firm's market share in tenant representation, a spokesperson from the Nasdaq and Toronto-listed company told BT.

The spokesperson added that Colliers is positive on the office sector this year: "While 2020 was characterised by rent declines and occupiers downsizing, we believe 2021 should see a rebound in rents, supported by economic growth and positive market dynamics (positive net absorption, muted supply and improving vacancy)."

Ms Chua reports to Rick Thomas, executive director and head of occupier services.

In mid-December 2020, Colliers also hired Joseph Yee from American commercial real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Mr Yee had been JLL's senior director of China valuation advisory services for South-east Asia since July 2019.

He is now Colliers' executive director, valuation and advisory, leading the valuation team for Singapore.

Last September, Colliers recruited Tan Keng Chiam from JLL, to be an executive director and the head of valuation and advisory services for its Singapore business. Mr Yee reports to him.

Mr Tan oversees Colliers' valuation and advisory services, hotel and leisure, and consultancy divisions across Singapore.

The spokesperson said in response to BT's queries: "All these strategic appointments underscore our intent to continue to grow our share of business and influence in Singapore."

Colliers is a fast-growing company that's "constantly looking out for exciting and enterprising talent" to lead the industry into the future, the spokesperson added.

Savills has also made three key hires in recent months, including Simon Raper as director and head of workplace strategy for Asia-Pacific on Jan 1, 2021, the firm told BT.

Singapore-based Mr Raper works with Savills' cross-border tenant advisory and project management teams across the wider region. He was previously global principal at Australian design and fit-out group Unispace.

Tang Chee Charn joined Savills Singapore as executive director of property management last September, while Goh Seow Leng was named executive consultant of valuation and advisory in November.

Both were from Colliers. Mr Tang spent 13 years there and was most recently its head of real estate management services; Ms Goh was at Colliers for nearly four decades and most recently led the institutional and corporate valuation business.

The appointments are part of Savills Singapore's efforts to grow its property management and valuation capabilities, and increase its recurring income business in Singapore, said the firm's chief executive officer (CEO) Marcus Loo.

Ms Goh's appointment was timely, as the valuation team was heading into 2021 in a strong position despite last year's challenges, said Cynthia Ng, Savills Singapore managing director, valuation and advisory.

As for Mr Tang, he is a veteran in strata management and also has expertise in other areas, which will enable the department to provide a wider range of services, noted Chan Kok Hong, managing director, Savills Property Management.

Separately, a restructuring at OrangeTee & Tie took effect on Jan 4. The company is now organised by function instead of business division; notably, it has combined the agency and projects divisions into a single unit.

With the restructuring, OrangeTee & Tie's top four executives took on an enlarged scope of responsibilities and changes in designations. Steven Tan has been named chief executive officer (CEO), from managing director previously. Executive directors Simon Yio, Bill Leung and Emily Eng are now chief operating officer, chief technology officer and chief business officer respectively.

OrangeTee & Tie has also promoted five key personnel to head specific functions. They include Christine Sun, who is now head of research and data analytics. She was previously the head of research and consultancy.

Last November, Huttons Asia hired Mark Yip as its new CEO to succeed Goh Kee Nguan, who resigned after seven years in the position and has since moved to PropNex Realty.

Before joining Huttons, Mr Yip was chief revenue officer at mainboard-listed property giant City Developments Limited from 2018, as well as CDL China's CEO. His appointment was announced shortly after Huttons Asia said it was merging with Savills Residential, the associates arm of Savills Singapore, in September 2020.

PropNex, on its part, roped in Mr Goh as its strategy and development officer last month. In this newly created role, he is working closely with the management team to "seize new opportunities, grow potential businesses and forge new partnerships", PropNex said.

His key tasks include helping to spur business growth in technology and real estate development, PropNex added.