Mapletree Investments, owned by Temasek Holdings, has hired a former Morgan Stanley banker to lead its struggling commercial business in China.
Lida Ren was appointed as the property manager’s commercial chief executive officer in China, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters. A Mapletree spokesperson declined to comment.
Ren left her former role as a real estate investment banker focused on China at Morgan Stanley last year, amid a drop of property deals in the world’s second-largest economy. She was based in Hong Kong as a managing director at the US firm.
Mapletree’s large holdings in China have been a significant drag on its portfolio during the nation’s real estate downturn. The firm lost $577.2 million for the fiscal year ended in March, its first loss in two decades.
Out of the $77.5 billion in assets it manages, about $11.4 billion is in mainland China, outranked only by North America and Singapore. The company expects the spillover effects of China’s real estate slump to continue to weigh on economic growth, investment and consumption, it said in its annual report this month.
Mapletree Investments has seen a few leadership shakeups in recent months.
See also: Mapletree Investments reports $577.2 mil loss for FY2024 from non-operational losses
Ng Kiat, the CEO at Mapletree Logistics Trust M44U , a REIT it sponsors, will give up her role later this month to return to the parent organisation.
Michael Smith, former regional chief of Europe and the US, left to become CEO of Singapore-listed developer Hongkong Land earlier this year.
