Link REIT appoints former BlackRock Asia Pacific real estate head John Saunders group CIO

Saunders, who will presume the place from March 4 following year, is going to be in charge of Link’s total investment approaches, portfolio management and the tactical development of Link’s financial investment organization. He will inform to George Hongchoy, Link’s chief executive officer.

Hong-Kong listed Link REIT has recently revealed the appointment of BlackRock’s previous Asia Pacific real estate executive John Saunders as group chief investment officer (CIO) in the freshly made duty.

He has over three decades of knowledge in the real estate market with a solid financial investment track record, most recently at BlackRock where he at the same time worked as global head of the real estate consumer service.

Units in Link REIT closed unchanged at HK$ 42.55 ($7.25) on the HKEX on Dec 20.

He joined BlackRock through its merger with MGPA in 2013 when he was the firm’s chief executive officer of Asia and the account manager of their Asian Property Funds series. Prior to signing up with MGPA, he helped CLSA between 1999 and 2007, operating their regional real estate research initiative and was instrumental in starting their Asian Real property Fund in which he functioned as an investment committee affiliate.

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“We are pleased to welcome John, who takes with him a wealth of knowledge and market know-how, to the Link family group. The appointment is going to improve the extent and capacity of our management group and will enhance our ability as we look for brand-new growth avenues and lasting returns for unitholders under the Link 3.0 strategy,” states Hongchoy.

Prior to that, he worked from Hongkong Land from 1994 to 1998 where he was engaged with the innovation and leasing of numerous landmark plans in Singapore and other Asian countries.