TrustCapital, a private equity real estate investment manager, has appointed banking industry veteran Lai Ven Li as a new partner.
Lai brings with her two decades’ worth of corporate and investment banking experience, especially in acquisition transactions and capital market fund raising for various sectors including real estate and Singapore REITs.
Lai was previously head of corporate banking at CIMB Singapore and prior to that, she was head of international corporate banking with the CIMB Group.
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At TrustCapital, Lai will be responsible for establishing and maintaining key relationships, and business development.
TrustCapital was co-founded in 2009 by former CEO of CapitaCommercialTrust David Tan, and Chris Cheah, ANZ Bank’s former head of property, Asia.
“Our people are our greatest strength. We have a wonderful team,” says Cheah. “We are excited to welcome our new partner Ven Li whom we are confident will help propel TrustCapital to a much higher level.”
Tan, meanwhile, notes that since 2020, even with travel hampered by the pandemic, the team at TrustCapital was still actively exploring opportunities in Australia, Europe and Japan. The team also looked at “very interesting investments” here in Singapore.
“As Singapore has handled the Covid-19 situation very well, I expect most asset classes of real estate in the country to be strongly sought after as both local and foreign investors look to increase exposure to this safe haven,” says Tan.
Between 2011 and 2016, TrustCapital set up two Australian office funds and acquired seven prime CBD office buildings in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra and did a direct investment in Melbourne.
The total assets under management, at its peak, totalled A$1.6 billion. The seven assets were subsequently divested in 2017 for A$1.2 billion, generating an internal rate of return of between 11%-24%.
TrustCapital’s AUM is now around $700 million, including property investments in 747 Collins Street Melbourne as well as Vodafone’s Italian Headquarters in Milan.
