Mercer on Tuesday officially launched its delegated investment solutions business in Singapore, and appointed Soon Kian Lee, a principal and Singapore-based head of investments for ASEAN, to lead the effort.
The latest move, which followed a launch in Japan toward the end of 2015, marked a further expansion in Asia of a Mercer business with assets under management globally of $124 billion, a company news release said.
Mr. Soon said in an e-mail that there is potential demand from Mercer advisory clients in Singapore as they increasingly adopt more sophisticated portfolio strategies.
Growing client demand for alternatives — with their accompanying challenges in areas such as managing capital calls or building well-diversified hedge fund allocations — is a case in point, he said.
“Our delegated solutions team (can) offer clients immediate access to a well-diversified range of alternative solutions,” and deal with the challenges of managing private market investments, Mr. Soon said.
In Singapore, Mr. Soon said Mercer will be looking to serve the same client segments its delegated solutions business has worked with globally — including government and quasi-government investment funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, banks, pension funds, endowments and foundations.
After a little more than half a year in Japan, Mr. Soon called the feedback “very positive,” and predicted significant growth for the delegated solutions business there over the coming months and years.
