CBRE appoints Siew to strengthen outbound platform

The former senior executive at Citi Private Bank will now head CBRE’s international capital division in China.  

CBRE has appointed Yvonne Siew to head its international capital division in China.

Based in Shanghai, Siew will be executive director, international capital, China, in what is a newly-created role at the real estate consultancy to cater to the growing outbound investments from China.

Siew joins from Citi Private Bank where she spent a decade, most recently as director and head of real estate in Asia in the investments department. She became head of real estate in the region in 2012, taking over from the long-serving Citi executive Quek Kwang Meng, who left the firm to become regional chief executive officer of China and India at the Singapore-headquartered real estate firm Mapletree Investments.

Siew has over two decades of financial and real estate experience transacting with multi-national corporate clients, high net worth families and institutions across Asia.

At CBRE, she will be responsible for coordinating the firm’s relationships and opportunities with private institutional investors within China as well as globally, according to a company statement. Siew will formally begin her role next month, and would report both to Marc Giuffrida, executive director, international capital, Asia, and Iva Poon, president of CBRE China.

Giuffrida said the appointment “provides a unique skill set of strong relationships, real estate knowledge and financial acumen, and would ensure CBRE’s global platform would continue to deliver advantage to its Chinese investor and client base.”

He added that Chinese capital accounted for over a quarter of total outbound real estate investment volumes in Asia during 2013 and 2014, and would continue to be an influential market participant in outbound real estate investment from Asia.

According to CBRE’s estimates, capital flows from China to global real estate touched $10 billion in 2014, a huge increase from the $1 billion invested in 2010.