Barclays has hired Paul Louie to head property equity research for the Asia ex-Japan region and appointed Alvin Wong as a director to lead its Chinese real estate coverage, according to a release from the bank. Both analysts join from Nomura.
Aside from heading the Asia ex-Japan property team, Louie will also be responsible for the bank's coverage of property developers and landlords in Hong Kong – a job left vacant earlier this year when Andrew Lawrence departed to join CIMB.
Louie will have the title of managing director and report to Jon Scoffin, Barclays' head of research for Asia-Pacific, while Wong will report to Louie. Both have already started in their new roles and are based in Hong Kong.
Scoffin said Louie and his team represented a “significant and valuable addition” to the bank’s research offering in Asia-Pacific.
“Their strong track record and established client relationships will enable to us to further strengthen the content and service that we provide,” he added.
Barclays said Louie and his team have been ranked in the top-five for Asia property research for the last three years by an Institutional Investor survey.
Louie was previously Nomura's regional head of property research for Asia-Pacific with a specific focus on Hong Kong. Before that he was at Lehman Brothers, until its takeover by the Japanese bank in 2008. Earlier in his career he covered the Hong Kong property sector for UBS.
Wong was most recently an executive director in the research team at Nomura where he led coverage of Chinese real estate. He has previously also worked in property research at HSBC and Bear Stearns.
