HSBC’s Lim lands at CapitaLand

James Lim, HSBC’s former head of real estate finance for Asia Pacific, will lead the private equity fund management business of Singaporean real-estate developer CapitaLand, according to an internal email announcement seen by FinanceAsia on Thursday.

Lim’s new position is in line with CapitaLand’s plan to elevate the importance of its private fund management  business unit called CapitaLand Investment Management within Southeast Asia's largest real estate developer, according to the memo.

His title is CEO of the business unit which became effective on November 1. He will be based in Singapore and report directly to president and group CEO Lim Ming Yan.

As of March 31, CapitaLand manages 14 real estate private equity funds and five REITs with assets under management worth over S$47.2 billion ($34.61 billion).

Lim has more than 15 years’ investment banking experience. He joined HSBC in July 2014 as the bank built a real estate financing platform in the Asia Pacific region and has been responsible for the bank's full range of commercial real estate and hotel financing activities in the region.

He left HSBC in August, but at the time it was not clear where he was heading. 

Prior to HSBC, Lim headed the real estate financing franchise at BNP Paribas Asia Pacific from Hong Kong.

Previously, Lim worked at ANZ and Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and Lehman Brothers in Japan in senior roles in real estate finance.