Ex-MSREI Asia head Fancy leaves Och-Ziff

Former Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing Asia Pacific head Zain Fancy has left his position at New York-based private equity firm Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, two years after joining.


Zain Fancy, executive managing director at Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, has left the firm, two years after joining from Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing.

Fancy joined the New York-based alternatives firm, which has $27 billion of assets under management, in November 2008 alongside three colleagues from MSREI – deputy China head Roy Kwok, India head Bharat Khanna and special situations fund portfolio manager Anand Madduri.

But according to an email sent to colleagues on Sunday, seen by PERE, he “is no longer at Och-Ziff”. He did not state what he would do next. Neither he, nor Och-Ziff were available for comment.

When he joined Och-Ziff, Fancy and his colleagues were tasked with “building out an Asian real estate platform in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, India and other countries throughout Asia and the Pacific” on behalf of a platform called Och-Ziff Asia Real Estate.

He was responsible for making investments in areas such as direct real estate and real estate-related instruments such as private and public equity securities, according to a news release issued by the firm when he joined.

His investment brief included development and re-development projects as well as non-performing and performing loans, convertible debt and preferred equity deals.

At the time of his hire from MSREI, Dan Och, Och-Ziff  chairman and chief executive officer, said of Fancy and his colleagues: “This team is well known and respected in the region. We believe their hands-on expertise and unique understanding of the Asian real estate markets will allow Och-Ziff to identify new opportunities that create real value for our investors.”

At MSREI, Fancy was particularly focused on Indian real estate. According to a report by The Economic Times in July 2006, he was behind plans to invest more than $1 billion into the country over a five year period. Under his leadership, MSREI invested into Bangalore developer Mantri Developers and Delhi-based Alpha G as well as serviced apartments in Pune.