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

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S property circles have been seeing several executive moves 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 that role, The Business Times (BT) has learnt.

She is moving to rival firm Knight Frank, where she is set to assume the role of Asia-Pacific research head, 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 its head of business development services for Singapore and South-east Asia.

Knight Frank and C&W declined to comment 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, 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 on growing its market share in tenant representation, the Nasdaq and Toronto-listed company's spokesperson told BT.

Colliers said it 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)."

In mid-December 2020, Colliers also hired Joseph Yee from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), where he had been senior director of China valuation advisory services for South-east Asia. Mr Yee is now Colliers' executive director, valuation and advisory, leading the valuation team for Singapore.

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

These appointments "underscore our intent to continue to grow our share of business and influence in Singapore", and Colliers is a fast-growing company "constantly looking out for exciting and enterprising talent" to lead the industry into the future, the spokesperson said.

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

Separately, a restructuring at OrangeTee & Tie took effect on Monday, and its top four executives took on a bigger scope of responsibilities. Steven Tan was named 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, including Christine Sun, who is now head of research and data analytics.

Last November, Huttons Asia hired City Developments Ltd's Mark Yip as its new CEO to succeed Goh Kee Nguan, who has since moved to PropNex Realty. Mr Yip's appointment was announced shortly after Huttons Asia said it was merging with Savills Residential, the associates arm of Savills Singapore.

PropNex, on its part, roped in Mr Goh as its strategy and development officer last month. In this newly created role, his key tasks include helping to spur business growth in technology and real estate development.