SC Capital Partners hires LaSalle’s Asia acquisitions head

The private equity real estate firm behind the Real Estate Capital Asia Partners (RECAP) series of pan-Asia opportunity funds has bolstered its ranks with the hire of a managing director.

SC Capital Partners, formerly SC Management, has hired Andrew Heithersay from the Asia platform of Chicago-based real estate investment management business LaSalle Investment Management. A founding member of LaSalle’s Asia business, he previously was head of acquisitions for the firm in the region ex-Japan and was based in its Singapore office.

SC Capital described Heithersay as one of “LaSalle’s most senior deal makers”. Indeed, he has spent 21 years with the firm, 15 years of which were in Asia. In that time, he has racked up $5.2 billion of transactions across the region, his new employer noted.

SC Capital’s founder Suchad Chiaranusatti said: “His extensive investment experience and partner relationships will further strengthen our platform.”

“Andrew's addition is part of our strategy to look for high quality professional to be added to the team. We have known Andrew for many years and have admired his deal sourcing quality and more importantly as a person Andrew is professional, hard working and thoughtful in his approach to investment. Andrew and us sharing many view points,” he added.

Heithersay originally joined LaSalle’s parent, the global property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, in 1991. There, he was director of its hotel valuation and advisory division in its Sydney and Jakarta offices.

Heithersay joins a company that has enjoyed relative success of late compared with many of its peers in Asia. In August, SC Capital closed on $530 million for its RECAP III fund – its biggest equity haul to date. The fundraising exceeded its initial $400 million equity target and its hard cap of $500 million.

Notably, the firm has been seen as offering a viable conduit to private real estate investing in Asia by US institutional investors, which make up 70 percent of this latest fund. Investors include the New Jersey Division of Investment.

RECAP III’s capital is expected to be deployed in Greater China, Japan, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. To date, approximately 15 percent has been invested. Heithersay will shoulder some of the responsibility of investing the remaining capital.