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Hines taps ex-GCP exec for rapidly growing APAC team

The US firm's Asia team has grown more than threefold since 2020.

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Houston-headquartered real estate investment manager Hines has added a former GLP senior executive to its rapidly expanding Asia team.

Caleb Shen has joined as a senior managing director based in Singapore, according to a source close to the situation. In his new role, Shen will focus on driving the growth of Hines’ property and asset management portfolio across Asia. He will report directly to the firm’s Asia chief investment officer, Chiang Ling Ng, the source said.

Prior to Hines, Shen was most recently the Asia head of portfolio and asset management at industrial heavyweight GLP Capital Partners. He previously spent more than four years at Singaporean landlord CapitaLand as a managing director and was formerly a partner in Apollo Global Management’s Shanghai office.

A Hines spokesperson confirmed Shen’s appointment while GCP also confirmed Shen’s departure.

Hines’ investment management team in Asia has grown more than threefold in the last four years from seven in 2020 to 25 this year. In June, the manager hired Tim Jowett, former managing director and head of Greater China at Grosvenor Asia, as managing director and head of Asia research. The real estate veteran will leverage the firm’s research capability to support business and investment opportunities for the firm’s Asia-focused funds.

The firm’s hiring spree comes as part of a broader regional expansion. The US firm opened a New Zealand office in February, marking its 11th office in Asia-Pacific since entering the region in 1996. The firm has increased its assets under management in Asia-Pacific from $2 billion in 2018 to $5.14 billion in 2023, according to its website.

Recent activities in the region include a A$1.5 billion ($961 million; €972 million) Australian build-to-rent partnership with Canada’s Cadillac Fairview in 2022. Its first pan-regional commingled fund, Hines Asia Property Partners, has also raised at least $1.31 billion since launching in 2021, according to PERE data.

“The Hines APAC team has a 2030 vision of what Hines Asia-Pacific should look like,” Ray Lawler, chief executive for Asia-Pacific, told PERE in 2022. “We endeavor to be about a third of what the firm is doing by then, and we think that is achievable based on our progress so far.”