APREA Hong Kong Conference

Clare is the Managing Director, Greater China, for IQ-EQ, a global operation specialist that provides investor solutions as well as middle and back-office support to fund managers, asset owners and corporations.

Clare began her career in funds with The Carlyle Group in Washington DC and was responsible for fund operation, investment structuring, internal procedure and investor relations for all European Buyout and Venture funds. After relocating to Hong Kong, she took on the Head of Middle Office role at CDIB Capital, the private equity asset management arm of China Development Industrial Bank. Clare also gained vast experience in operations, business development, strategic planning and management on the sell side.

Prior to joining IQ-EQ, Clare was an Executive Director for Fosun Group's real estate arm, where she held various responsibilities over time, including fund management, acquisition, divestment, capital structuring, fundraising and investor relations. After Fosun, Clare moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong and looked after fundraising activities and investor relations as an Executive Director and Head of Capital Markets for special situation strategies for COS Capital, China Orient Asset Management's real estate private equity fund manager.

Clare holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with concentration in Finance and Accounting, cum laude, from Georgetown University and a Master of Science in Finance from George Washington University. She was also an exchange scholar focusing on International Finance and International Marketing at University of Oxford.

Sigrid is the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA). Based in Singapore, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, initiatives and operations of the association across Asia Pacific. Under her leadership, APREA repositioned to an industry trade group focusing on real estate and infrastructure.

Sigrid joined APREA’s executive team in January 2019.

Prior to APREA, she served as Managing Director of Asia Pacific Research and Advisory Services of Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) from 2010 through 2018, where she was responsible for research, thought leadership, strategy formulation and client management.  Before relocating to Singapore, she was based in Washington, D.C. and led C&W’s U.S. research group in the Mid-Atlantic region, overseeing all aspects of market research activities in the Washington, DC; Virginia; Suburban Maryland, Baltimore; and Philadelphia areas. Prior to joining C&W, Sigrid served as a Senior Economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In that position, she developed NAR’s office, warehouse, retail, multi-family housing, and international research programs.

A recognized expert in global economic, public policy and real estate issues, Sigrid is a frequent speaker at industry events.  Her commentary on commercial and residential real estate markets is also regularly featured in a wide array of global publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, New York Times and Reuters. Additionally, she has made several television appearances on financial networks and radio such as CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, National Public Radio and Channel News Asia.

Sigrid holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a Master’s degree in Economics from Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of several civic groups including the Rotary Club of Raffles City in Singapore, where she has served in various leadership positions, and serves in the Executive Committee of the Crohn’s & Colitis Society of Singapore.

Mr. Roberto Versace is the Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA) Hong Kong Chapter and a company Director of APREA, positions held since 2021. Mr. Versace is also a member of the FTSE EPRA Nareit Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Committee and an Editorial Board member of Institutional Real Estate Inc. USA.

From 2017 to September 2023, Mr. Versace was the Managing Director and the Head of Listed Real Estate Asia Pacific at APG Asset Management Asia in Hong Kong. In this role, Mr. Versace was also a member of the APG Asia Executive Leadership Management Committee, the APG Global Real Estate Management Committee, the APG Asia Pacific Real Estate Management Committee and APG’s Global People and Culture Leadership Committee.

Prior to joining APG in 2017, Roberto was the Managing Director and Lead Portfolio Manager at EII Capital Management in London. From 2010 to 2015 Roberto was the Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager for Asia at BNY Mellon Investment Management in Singapore. Prior to BNY Mellon, Roberto was the Portfolio Manager for the NYSE Listed RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate funds on behalf of RMR Advisors (Boston) based in Sydney, Australia.

Roberto holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (Chicago) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Masters of Science in Global Finance at NYU Stern School of Business (New York City) and the HKUST Business School (Hong Kong), and a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Adelaide (Australia).

Mr. Roberto Versace is the Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA) Hong Kong Chapter and a company Director of APREA, positions held since 2021. Mr. Versace is also a member of the FTSE EPRA Nareit Asia Pacific Regional Advisory Committee and an Editorial Board member of Institutional Real Estate Inc. USA.

From 2017 to September 2023, Mr. Versace was the Managing Director and the Head of Listed Real Estate Asia Pacific at APG Asset Management Asia in Hong Kong. In this role, Mr. Versace was also a member of the APG Asia Executive Leadership Management Committee, the APG Global Real Estate Management Committee, the APG Asia Pacific Real Estate Management Committee and APG’s Global People and Culture Leadership Committee.

Prior to joining APG in 2017, Roberto was the Managing Director and Lead Portfolio Manager at EII Capital Management in London. From 2010 to 2015 Roberto was the Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager for Asia at BNY Mellon Investment Management in Singapore. Prior to BNY Mellon, Roberto was the Portfolio Manager for the NYSE Listed RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate funds on behalf of RMR Advisors (Boston) based in Sydney, Australia.

Roberto holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (Chicago) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Masters of Science in Global Finance at NYU Stern School of Business (New York City) and the HKUST Business School (Hong Kong), and a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Adelaide (Australia).

Mr. Chen is currently the Director & President of Everbright Jiabao, and the Chairman & CEO of EBA (Beijing) Investment Management Ltd, a holding subsidiary of the company. Mr. Chen used to work at Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, Barker Pacific Group. Inc (Los Angeles), Lehman Brothers’ subsidiary asset management company and Tishman China Fund.

Mr Chen has over 20 years of experience in real estate investment and asset management as well as the capital market. He is proficient in both Chinese and English. Mr. Chen holds a master degree in real estate development from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor degree in architecture from Tsinghua University.

Mr THAM is responsible for the Manager’s corporate development, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and capital transactions. He joined the Manager in April 2022. He is one of the responsible officers of the Manager for the purposes of the SFO, and a director of a number of subsidiaries of Link.

Mr THAM has extensive experience in real estate investment, management and development, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate and investment banking and accounting and finance. He has held senior roles in multinational and global financial institutions, with responsibility for the execution of multijurisdictional corporate actions and with an operational remit spanning Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore and internationally. Prior to joining the Manager, he was an executive director of each of Lai Sun Development Company Limited and Lai Fung Holdings Limited, both are listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange. He has held senior positions at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Swire Pacific Group, HSBC Global Banking and Macquarie Capital.

He trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse (now known as PwC), London and is a Fellow Member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is a Member of the Professional Accountants in Business Committee and was formerly the Chairman of the Registration and Practising Committee of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a Member of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute and a Member of the Finance Committee of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Mr THAM holds a Master of Engineering in chemical engineering from Imperial College, University of London in the United Kingdom.

Practice focus

Jeremy is a senior lawyer in the Hong Kong office with over 10 years of experience advising REITs on their formation, acquisitions, disposals, equity/debt capital raising exercises and liability management exercises. He has worked on almost all of Hong Kong's largest REIT transactions, and has been recognised by Legal 500 as a "Next Generation Partner" for investment funds, as well as recommended in the area of REITs.

Professional affiliations

• Jeremy is a member of The Law Institute of Victoria.

Education and admission
Jeremy graduated from the University of Melbourne with an LL.B. (Hons)
and a B.Com. He is admitted as a solicitor in Australia.

Ms. Kong is the Managing Director and CIO of SCGC Realty Capital, and is a member of SCGC’s infrastructure REITs investment committee. Prior to joining SCGC, Ms. Kong worked at CITIC Securities focusing on REITs, ABS and Private Equity Real Estate.

Ms. Kong has rich practical experience in real estate fund and REITs. She has successively designed and launched the first three private REITs products in China's capital market. As an external expert of the regulatory departments, Ms. Kong was deeply involved in the policy research process of China’s infrastructure REITs. Also, she successfully led the issuance of Yantian Port REIT, one of the first batch of 9 infrastructure public offering REITs.

Ms. Kong holds dual master’s degrees in Finance and Management from Peking University.

Nikhil is head of Real Estate for Asia Pacific within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He is a member of the Asset & Wealth Management Private Real Estate Investment Committee.

Nikhil joined Goldman Sachs in 2008 as an analyst in the Specialty Lending Group within the Special Situations Group (SSG), where he focused on middle market corporate lending. In 2010, he moved to the Asset Investing Group within SSG in New York. In 2020, Nikhil moved to Hong Kong with the Real Estate business in Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He was named managing director in 2019.

Nikhil earned a BA in Economics from Northwestern University in 2008.

Karl Choi is a Managing Director in equity research at Bank of America, covering the Greater China Property, Hong Kong Conglomerates and Macau gaming sectors. He was an equity research analyst at Merrill Lynch in the US for more than 10 years covering Advertising and Publishing before returning to Hong Kong in 2008. Prior to that, he was an investment banking analyst in the TMT sector at the firm.

With 30+ years’ experience dedicated to real estate and technology, Bernie is a leader in digital transformation in real estate and using data to create a more competitive and collaborative environment. Currently responsible for the growth of Yardi Systems in Asia Pacific, Bernie lives in Hong Kong and is a qualified accountant and economist.

He supports real estate clients with Retail, Commercial, Industrial, Residential and Mixed-Use assets, helping them to grow their operations, create efficiencies, and gain better insight into their business. His expertise includes asset and investment management, private equity, operations improvement, program and project management, finance, technology implementation and compliance.

Bernie has led large-scale technology projects, as well as led and supported Proptech start-ups, across Australia, the USA, Middle East, Asia and Europe. He has over 60 publications to his name, and extensive public speaking experience. He is actively working with several charities focused on the marine environment and child education in Hong Kong and China.

As the CEO of Funlive Holdings, he is responsible for the overall strategic direction, business operations and management of Funlive.

Over 20 years of experience in investment banking, having worked for UBS, HSBC, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Macquarie.

In the 10 years prior to joining Funlive, he was a Senior Managing Director and Head of Greater China Real Estate at Macquarie Capital, where he was responsible for investment banking, corporate finance advisory and direct investment businesses.

Holds MBA and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Kevin Zhou is currently the Head of Business Development at Keppel Real Estate (China), where he is responsible for the company's investment and asset disposal business in the China market. Since joining Keppel in 2016, Kevin has led a number of successful investment and asset disposal projects and expanded the company's footprint into the markets of Nanjing and Guangzhou.

Prior to joining Keppel, Kevin spent 11 years with Shui On Land, where he played a key role in executing projects and strategic disposals across various markets in China. His tenure culminated in his appointment as Assistant General Manager of Business Development.

Kevin holds an MBA in Finance from China Europe International Business School and is a certified Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Fellow of CPA Australia.

Mascha Ankelmann, Vice President, heads Product Strategy for the BlackRock APAC Real Estate platform with the main focus on driving the strategic growth and development of the platform, including product development, capital raising and managing client relationships. She is based in the Hong Kong office.

Prior to the current role, she was a member of the BlackRock Alternatives Specialists group working closely with client, product and investment teams, to develop, position and distribute BlackRock's Real Assets private markets investment solutions to clients in Germany & Switzerland.

Mascha earned a MSc degree in Real Estate Investment from the Cass Business School in London and holds a BSc degree in Business & Management from the Aston University in Birmingham.