Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has named Kim Suyi, formerly Asia head of private equity, as its regional head, following the promotion of Mark Machin to president and chief executive as of June 13.
Deborah Orida succeeds Kim as Asia private equity head, having previously served as international head of relationship investments, responsible for significant minority investments in public companies in Asia and Europe. Orida's replacement will be announced in due course.
Now based in Toronto, Machin had been both head of international as well as president for Asia at CPPIB. He replaced Wiseman as president and CEO, following the latter’s move to US asset manager BlackRock. Machin previously held senior roles at Goldman Sachs.
Kim, who now reports to Carrier, joined CPPIB nine years ago, establishing the fund’s first international office in Hong Kong. She has also worked for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Carlyle, McKinsey & Co and PwC, and was named in AsianInvestor’s 2013 list of the most influential individuals in private equity.
CPPIB has invested directly in some high-profile deals of late across the Asia Pacific region including in China Postal Savings Bank’s pre-IPO fundraising last year. The Toronto-headquartered firm invested Rmb3.2 billion ($500 million) in the Chinese lender. Wiseman said at the time that he viewed the investment as a way of participating in rising consumption on the mainland.
Canada’s biggest retirement fund is also sharing the equity risk with private equity firm MBK Partners in the biggest private equity deal in Asia Pacific to date -- the purchase of Tesco’s Korean discount retail chain Homeplus for $6.4 billion. CPPIB bought a stake of about 21.5% in Homeplus for $534 million.
Before it was blocked by the European Union, CPPIB was among the investors participating in Hutchison Whampoa’s acquisition of O2 from Telefonica.
CPPIB has not always been on the winning side in deals. It was part of the consortium that lost out in an auction to acquire Sinopec’s retail arm.
CPPIB has C$44.3 billion ($33.8 billion) – 17% of its C$264 billion in AUM – invested in Asia Pacific as of September 2015. It had global AUM of C$279 billion as of March 31. The fund added a second office in the region, in Mumbai, last year.
During Machin's tenure CPPIB's Asia-Pacific assets more than doubled, having stood at C$22 billion of its global C$183 billion in mid-2013. At the time he said the Asia-Pacific portion could rise to C$150 billion over the coming 20 years.
Machin had joined CPPIB in February 2012 as its first regional president for Asia, with a remit to ramp up its presence in the region and build a team of investment professionals. He retained responsibility for Asia when he stepped up to head of international in November 2013.
The other two biggest Canadian pension funds have also been expanding in the region in recent years. La caisse de depot et placement du Quebec set up an India office earlier this year and plans to double its emerging-market exposure, with Asia a priority, as reported. And Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan appointed Nicole Musicco as Asia-Pacific head last September, having established a Hong Kong office in 2013.
