China Merchants Capital Announces Simon Chen as Chief Investment Officer
Shenzhen and Hong Kong, 1 March 2021 – China Merchants Capital (“CMC”) today announced Simon Chen, former partner at HOPU Investments and CEO of Triwater, the real estate investment arm of HOPU, will join CMC as chief investment officer.
In 2020, China Merchants Group (“CMG”) and GLP entered into a strategic partnership to co-manage CMC, CMG’s RMB281.5 billion (USD 42.4 billion) alternative investment vehicle launched in 2012. Historically, CMC has managed 62 private equity, venture capital and real estate funds (including liquidated ones). At the end of 2020, China Merchants Capital had 250 investment professional employees in their Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong offices. Its investment strategies span across seven sectors - transportation, infrastructure and logistics, real estate, Financial services and Fintech, TMT, advanced manufacturing, green tech and healthcare.
Rizhong Zhang, CEO of China Merchants Capital, said: “We look forward to Simon joining our management team as we aim to our goal of becoming a leading global alternative asset manager. Simon will build on the strength of our team and support us in our goal of becoming a leading global fund manager as we seek out the most compelling investment opportunities.”
Xiaoyuan Hong, Chairman of CMC, Assistant General Manager of CMG, said: “Talents are the core competitiveness in the field of alternative asset management. We believe Simon will contribute to enhancing long-term return for our investors across a broad and expanding range of asset classes and through various types of economic cycles and providing higher quality value-added services for the companies in our portfolio with his experiences. “
Ming Mei, GLP Co-founder and CEO, said: “Simon is a highly talented investment professional with a diverse set of investing experience across a range of sectors and asset classes. We look forward to him joining the China Merchants Capital team as the firm continues to invest in sectors driving the global economy.”
Simon has extensive transaction experience across real estate, infrastructure, logistics and renewable energy sectors and has led many milestone transactions with leading players. At HOPU, Simon led investments over USD15 billion, including both growth capital in companies such as NIO, Meicai and Full Truck Alliance, and strategic investments in companies such as GLP, Shoucheng Concord and Jinjiang Environment. Prior to joining HOPU, Simon was a 12-year veteran banker at China International Capital Corporation. He was head of real estate investment banking and co-head of fixed income origination, completing transactions over USD20 billion for premium SOE and MNC clients. He also spearheaded in securitization and REITs in China back then. Simon holds a Master of Finance from Shanghai Jiaotong University.
GLP is a leading global investment manager and business builder in logistics, real estate, infrastructure, finance and related technologies. Our combined investing and operating expertise allows us to create value for our customers and investors. We operate across Brazil, China, Europe, India, Japan, the U.S. and Vietnam and have over USD 100 billion in assets under management in real estate and private equity. Learn more at glp.com/global
China Merchants Group (http://www.cmhk.com) is a leading state-owned enterprise based in Hong Kong, established in 1872. A conglomerate with core businesses covering transportation & infrastructure, finance and real estate, CMG has played a unique role in China’s business and economic history and is a Fortune 500 company with RMB 10.4 trillion (USD 1.6 trillion) of assets under management.
China Merchants Capital (www.cmcapital.com.cn), founded in 2012 and headquartered in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, is the private equity arm of CMG. CMC manages assets north of RMB 280 billion (USD 38 billion), spread across 58 funds (excluding liquidated ones) focused on investing in infrastructure, finance and private equity, with over 160 investors.