ABP to open in Hong Kong
ABP, the €190bn Dutch civil servants' pension fund, is opening an office in Hong Kong to focus on investment opportunities in Asian real estate, private equity and infrastructure.
Jeroen Schreur, chief operating officer of ABP Investments in New York, will move to the city to run the office.
ABP considered Shanghai and Singapore before deciding on Hong Kong for its ease of access to the rest of China and its high level of specialist expertise.
Roderick Munsters, chief investment officer of ABP, declined to comment on how much capital he hoped to run from Hong Kong, but said he would be disappointed if it had not reached €1bn within five years.
The move in comes eight years after the fund opened its first office outside the Netherlands in New York. It has since boosted that office from eight people to about 80.
Although ABP allocates 8% of its €72bn equity portfolio to Asian-listed equity, it is new to illiquid assets in the region. He emphasised Hong Kong would not manage listed equity but would focus on private markets.
