APREA Singapore Conference

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 John Lim is the Chairman of JL Family Office. He is also the Senior Advisor and Non-executive Director of ESR Cayman Limited and serves as a Non-executive Director of ARA Asset Management (Fortune) Limited, ARA Trust Management (Suntec) Limited, ARA Asset Management (Prosperity) Limited and Hui Xian Asset Management Limited.

Mr Lim is Chairman of the Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA) and the Consultative Committee to the Department of Real Estate, National University of Singapore. He is also a Patron of the Securities Investors Association of Singapore (SIAS) and a Council Member of Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mr Lim co-founded ARA Asset Management in 2002 and was its Group CEO for 18 years and Deputy Chairman from February 2021 to January 2022.

Mr Lim has over 40 years of experience in the real estate industry and has received many notable corporate awards. These include the PERE Global Awards 2020 and 2016 Industry Figure of the Year: Asia, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of the Year Singapore 2012 and the Outstanding CEO of the Year 2011 at the Singapore Business Awards 2012. Mr Lim, along with the Board of Directors of ARA, was a recipient of the prestigious Best Managed Board (Gold) Award at the Singapore Corporate Awards 2012. In 2017, he was conferred the Public Service Medal (PBM) by the President of Singapore in recognition of his contributions to the community.

Mr Lim holds a Bachelor of Engineering (First Class Honours) in Mechanical Engineering, a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, as well as a Diploma in Business Administration, each from the National University of Singapore.

Mr Pol de Win joined Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) as Head of Global Sales and Origination (GSO) on 1 July 2021.

As Head of GSO, Mr de Win drives the growth of SGX Group’s international presence, including strengthening client engagements globally and overseeing SGX Group’s specialised sales teams in 10 cities. He leads the strategy and delivery of the equity and debt capital market businesses, as well as the development of distribution channels for SGX Group’s products and services across all asset classes.

 Mr de Win has extensive experience in capital markets advisory and transaction execution across Asia, Europe and the US. Prior to joining SGX Group, Mr de Win held various senior roles at Goldman Sachs. He most recently headed Southeast Asia Financial Institutions and Fintech (Asia ex-Japan) as Managing Director in Hong Kong.

Mr de Win is the Chairman of SGX Cares Bull Charge, the only corporate charity initiative that brings the financial industry and SGX-listed companies together to support the needs of the underprivileged, persons with disabilities and the elderly. Mr de Win leads the effort in rallying the community to raise funds for SGX Cares’ beneficiaries.​

Mr de Win holds a Master of Science degree from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Andrew Lee, Director, is a member of the Real Estate team and is responsible for investments across Southeast Asia and South Korea. Mr Lee joined the firm in 2015.

Prior to joining BlackRock, Mr Lee was with Credit Suisse in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group covering the Southeast Asia real estate sector and has advised on the full range of investment banking products including public and private equity, high yield and investment grade debt, structured finance and mergers and acquisitions. Before that, he spent years in ING Bank N.V. and other real estate investment firms.

Mr Lee holds a Msc Finance and Economics from Warwick Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Western Australia.

As Chief Investment Officer at City Developments Limited (CDL), Mr. Gerald Yong leads the Group Investments team, spearheading capital deployment into the global living and commercial sectors. He is responsible for formulating CDL’s investment policies, originating deals and extending business networks globally. He is also responsible for unlocking value from existing portfolio through strategic redevelopment initiatives or divestments. Together with a team of more than 30 qualified investment professionals, Mr Yong works closely with external property managers, investors and partners in Singapore, Japan, UK, and Australia.

With a proven track record of over 60 years in real estate development, investment and management, CDL has developed over 50,000 homes and owns around 23 million square feet of gross floor area in residential for lease, commercial and hospitality assets globally. The group’s global network spans 163 locations in 29 countries, owing to its hospitality portfolio with more than 155 hotels worldwide and some S$2.6 Billion worth of assets (both operational and under development) in private rented sector (PRS) and purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA).

With more than 20 years of real estate experience, Mr. Yong has also acquired deep knowledge of the living sector. He majored in Bachelor of Science (Real Estate) with Honours from National University of Singapore, holds an Appraiser’s License from Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and is a member of the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV).

Joseph Chien is Head of Private Real Estate Asia, based in Singapore, He is a member of the Private Real Estate Directs Investment Committee and the Private Real Estate Partnerships Investments Committee. He has 27 years of industry experience in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Prior to joining Partners Group, he was a Managing Director at Blackstone Real Estate based in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo, responsible for real estate acquisitions and initiatives in China and Japan. Before joining Blackstone, Joe was an Executive Director at Green Oak Real Estate Advisors in New York, where he focused on acquisitions in the U.S., Greater China, and India. He began his career in real estate in 1997 at Morgan Stanley in their real estate investing and mergers & acquisitions departments in New York and London. Joe holds a bachelor's degree from Duke University.

Karol Piovarcsy serves as a Member of the Board of Directors at ZDR Investments SG VCC. He is also the founder and CEO of Euro Asia Asset Management, a boutique financial services firm offering wealth management solutions with RFMC regulatory status under the MAS.

Prior to founding Euro Asia Asset Management, he spent five years at Saxo Bank in various leadership roles. These included Managing Director in Prague, Czechia, overseeing the Central and Eastern Europe business mandate, and Senior Vice President in Hong Kong and Singapore, where he led trading and relationship management teams catering to key professional and institutional clients across the APAC region.

Abdulhaq is a Real Estate and Infrastructure Partner at Trowers & Hamlins and specialises in complex real estate investment deals and development projects, PPP and concession arrangements relating to urban and transport-related development, and strategic legal advice.

He has held several senior management positions within the Firm, including sitting on the Management Board for six years, as well as being the Firm's International Managing Partner until late 2021. He is consistently recognised as a top-tier lawyer by both The Legal 500 and Chambers Global.

He is now the firm's Head of Asia and spearheaded the opening of our Singapore office.

Bertrand Jabouley has been the Head of S&P Global Ratings’ Sustainable Finance team in the Asia-Pacific region since early 2020.

He ensures the quality, consistency, and timeliness of the team’s assignments (primarily ESG analysis and second party opinions), while maintaining an active dialogue with the company’s stakeholders on sustainability-related topics.

He was previously Head of Heavy industries, Energy & Mining and Transportation ratings for Southeast Asia.

Before relocating to Singapore in 2014, Bertrand spent three years in the Paris office, covering diversified groups, services and building materials.

Prior to joining S&P Global Ratings in 2011, he spent nine years at HSBC in Paris, initially in a credit analysis position in Corporate Banking for three years and later in a financing advisory role in the Investment Banking division.

Bertrand holds an MBA in International Business from the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok, Thailand) and is a graduate from the ESCP Europe business school (Paris, France), Lancaster University (U.K.) and University of Paris-Dauphine (Paris, France). He is also a CFA Charterholder, and earned certificates in Climate Risk, Valuation, and Investing (CFA Institute), Sustainability and Climate Risk (GARP), and ESG Analyst® (EFFAS).

A sustainability practitioner for over two decades, Esther published the first sustainability report in Singapore in 2008 and issued the first green bond by a Singapore company in 2017. Conferred the 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact, and named amongst 25 Trailblazing Women against Climate Change by Reuters in 2023 as well as the inaugural TIME100 Climate Leaders in Business 2023 list, Esther sits on the boards or advisory platforms of international organizations including:

• World Economic Forum Nature-Positive Cities Global Commission
• World Green Building Council Corporate Advisory Board Chairperson
• Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
• UN PRI Real Estate Advisory Committee
• UN ESCAP Sustainable Business Network Executive Council
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Supervisory Board
• Urban Land Institute (ULI) Randall Lewis Center Advisory Board for Sustainability in Real Estate and ULI Asia Pacific Net Zero Council
• Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA) Board of Directors and Chair of ESG Committee
• GRESB Foundation Board

She founded Women4Green and Youth4Climate networks to empower women and youths to champion climate action and sustainable development.

Miak Ou is a seasoned ESG professional with nearly 14 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. As Head of Sustainability at SC Capital Partners, a private equity real estate firm in Asia Pacific, Miak has enhanced ESG transparency and led the implementation of key frameworks like PRI and TCFD across more than 60 assets. She also spearheaded the firm’s inaugural Sustainability Report and led ESG training and activities, embedding sustainability into the firm’s culture and operations.

Previously, Miak worked at City Developments Limited (CDL), a global real estate company headquartered in Singapore, where she supported ESG communications and strategic partnerships, contributing to the company’s improved rankings in indices such as DJSI, FTSE4Good, and GRESB. Miak began her career at Singapore’s Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, shaping environmental policies and representing Singapore in multilateral forums, including the UN General Assembly, UNFCCC, the SDGs, and the UN Environment Programme. Her diverse background enables her to bridge the gap between policy and practical sustainability implementation in real estate.

Ar. Tan Szue Hann, MBA, M. Arch, is an award-winning ESG and sustainable development professional, strategist, and thought leader in Sustainability. He is currently Head of Sustainability and Deputy General Manager, Sustainable Urban Renewal, at Keppel’s Real Estate Division. He has been Director of Sustainability Development and Engineering at Marina Bay Sands, and Chairman of Sustainability, Singapore Institute of Architects. In 2021, with a group of international sustainability leaders, he co-founded IxSA (Innovation x Sustainability Alliance), a non-profit global think tank. He has also been a Board Member of the Singapore Green Building Council, and an invited member of the BCA Green Built-Environment Advisory Committee. He has previously been Managing Director of MINIWIZ, a Temasek-supported circular economy company that turns waste materials into architecture and products, and was Head of Sustainability and Resiliency at Singapore-based global infrastructure consultancy Surbana Jurong from 2013-18.  

Hann obtained an MBA with Distinction from Northumbria University in 2022, with a thesis on strategic management in businesses through ESG. He graduated with M Arch from the National University of Singapore (NUS), with a visiting fellowship to the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2007, and a BA Arch (First Class Honours) in 2006. On graduation, he was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Medal, Board of Architects Medal, and the ICI Gold Medal. He is a Registered Architect in Singapore, and also an appointed World Cities Summit Young Leader (from 2016), and BCA Built Environment Young Leader (from 2016), both by the Ministry of National Development, Singapore. He has also taught multiple sustainability and architecture courses at local universities NUS and SUTD.  

Hann was also Singapore’s 2015-16 Young Green Architect of the Year, awarded by BCA-SGBC, and a Minister's Award recipient (2017), Singapore. He was elected Chairman of the ARCASIA (Architects Regional Council Asia) Committee for Young Architects (2017-18) and in 2017, was inducted into Generation T, a group of society and community changemakers below the age of 40, as one of Cartier’s 5 Bright Sparks, by Asia Tatler. In 2019, he was inducted into the Prestige 40 Under 40 List, by Prestige Singapore, as one of the leading Changemakers in the nation. He was also awarded the inaugural BCA Young Leader Advocate Award 2019, for his work in sustainability and the built environment.  

Hann's sustainable development portfolio includes the award-winning ParkRoyal on Pickering, the SPACE Asia Hub and the Ogilvy & Mather office with WOHA; the BCA SkyLab, a rotatable test bed for building technologies, which won a Minister’s Award on Singapore’s National Day, 2017. He has also managed the design of an 8000-hectare circular economy master plan north of Bangkok, and an IT campus in Bangalore. He has spoken in numerous international conferences, including the World Cities Summit 2019 in Medellin, Colombia, the UN-organised 2019 Asia Pacific Urban Forum 7 in Penang, COP25 in Madrid in December 2019, and the UN Global Compact Network Summit in 2022.  

Hann’s primary skills are in sustainability solutioning and accreditation, strategic management, ESG integration with corporate policy and best practice, effective team facilitation and management, and the translation of sustainability strategies into real estate value.

Meet Bobby Hiranandani, the Co-Chairman of Royal Group of Companies- an accomplished and dynamic leader in the hospitality industry who is widely recognized for his expertise in hotel development, investment, and strategic management in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and beyond.

Bobby has a passion for hotel development and has forged strong partnerships with global investors, having spearheaded a number of high-profile projects. Upon becoming Royal Group’s Co-Chairman in 2010, Bobby embarked on the company’smost ambitious hotel project - transforming the historical “Telegraphic Association of Singapore” landmark building into a lifestyle hotel. He continues to take charge of Royal Group’s expansion, with the upcoming Raffles Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa – a first-of-its-kind resort in Singapore, and an exciting newhotel along Singapore’s Orchard Road belt – a project which is yet to be announced.

With a natural flair for public speaking, Bobby is known for his engaging, unconventional and straight forward communication. His anticipated address at the conference promises to offer invaluable insights into the future of hotel investments and the key trends shaping the hospitality realm.

Soon Yean oversees the sourcing, evaluating, recommending and executing of acquisition and divestment transactions in the hospitality and living sectors in target markets within SEA, Australia, the UK, amongst others. He has over 33 years of experience in the real estate industry and has been with Frasers Property Group for the last 18 years.

Within the Frasers Property Group, he had held various senior positions including Head of Investment for Frasers Commercial Asset Management Ltd, the manager for Frasers Commercial Trust (prior to its merger with Frasers Logistics and Industrial Trust) as well as the Head of Business Development of Frasers Property Singapore, responsible for its strategy and residential and commercial land tenders, and acquired the EC site known as Parc Greenwich as well as Bedok Point for the redevelopment into the mix-use project known as Sky Eden @ Bedok.

Prior to joining Frasers, he was with Guthrie GTS Ltd as the business development manager for its retail mall investment business in Singapore and Malaysia.

Shirin is a principal and co-head of Baker McKenzie’s Mergers and Acquisitions practice in Singapore. With over 22 years of experience in M&A and PE transactions across Asia, the U.S. and beyond, Shirin specializes in institutional real estate and asset management transactions, including capital raising platforms, joint ventures, co-investments and club deals, portfolio restructuring and exits. 

Shirin is a widely recognized lawyer. She is ranked as a Leading Individual for Corporate/M&A in Singapore by Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Global, among others. Additionally, she is acknowledged by IFLR 1000 as a Women Leader and is Highly Regarded for Private Equity/M&A and was recognized The Legal 500’s inaugural M&A Private Practice Powerlist: Asia Pacific 2024. Best Lawyers named Shirin their Lawyer of the Year (Singapore) for Mergers & Acquisitions in 2024.