Doshi steps down as APG’s Asia real estate head – Exclusive

Sachin Doshi, managing director and head of private real estate investments for Asia Pacific at APG Asset Management, has resigned from his position.

Doshi will be officially leaving the Dutch pension fund asset manager by the end of August.

He is understood to be pursuing an entrepreneurial path believed to involve setting up a real estate venture, PERE has learned from industry sources.

Doshi confirmed the news of his departure, but declined to provide further information about the venture.

Doshi, who is based in APG’s Hong Kong office, has been heading the investor’s non-listed real estate portfolio in the region for the past four years. He joined APG in 2011 as a senior portfolio manager from the investment bank Merrill Lynch. His promotion to the leadership role marked one of the quickest ascents in the Asian private real estate market at the time.

Under his stewardship, APG has grown its real estate assets under management in Asia to around €5 billion of private real estate investments, with forays into new markets and asset classes. In terms of performance, APG’s private real estate investments in the region have been generating an annual IRR of over 14 percent, according to Doshi’s interview with China Money Network in March last year.

Late last year, the firm made its first investment in India’s retail sector with the launch of a $450 million platform in partnership with Virtuous Retail and the Xander Group. In 2014, APG made its first round of investments in e-Shang, the Shanghai-based logistics operator that merged with Redwood to form ESR early last year. At $650 million, the investment was at the time the largest backing by an institutional investor for a Chinese logistics company. APG also went on to acquire a stake in another Chinese property company Chongbang in partnership with Ivanhoe Cambridge.