Intermediate Capital Group’s (ICG) real estate arm has launched an Asia Pacific business with the hiring of a team of four members from ESR’s ARA Private Funds.

The asset manager’s $7bn (€6.7bn) real estate arm has appointed David Kim and Stephen Tang, as Asia-Pacific real estate managing directors and co-heads to lead the team which includes Rohan Neville and Isaac Leo as managing director and principal respectively.

At ARA, Kim was the CEO of private funds overseeing investments in real estate opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to ARA, he was a managing director and the COO of Blackstone’s real estate business based in Hong Kong.

Tang was the head of value-add and opportunistic real estate of ARA Private Funds and was also the lead portfolio manager for ARA’s flagship Asia Real Estate Partners Fund series. Prior to joining ARA, he worked in the private equity real estate divisions at JP Morgan Asset Management and Morgan Stanley respectively.

Neville was the head of investments and asset management for Australia at ARA, responsible for investment activities and asset management and Leo was a manager in the private funds unit, responsible for acquisitions, deal execution and asset management.

The new team, based in Singapore and Australia, will invest in Asia-Pacific real estate equity and debt, focusing on mid-to-upper-market transactions, corporate-led deals, and special situations, ICG said.

Krysto Nikolic, the global head of ICG Real Estate, said: “The team has an excellent track record of investing and business building in Asia-Pacific and we are excited about the opportunity for growth in the region as we continue to build the capabilities of ICG Real Estate in line with our global ambitions across the wider firm.”

Kim said ICG has a long-standing reputation for delivering excellent investment performance as well as high standards of service to its clients. “I am delighted to be joining the team and to help build further on the firm’s global footprint.”

Tang said: “Asia-Pacific represents one of the largest growth markets in the world and I look forward to contributing to ICG’s global ambitions as we expand our investment activities in the region.”

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