Temasek, the S$223bn ($178bn) Singaporean sovereign wealth has been quietly recruiting for its new UK office over the past six months and the latest new hire to join its London operation is Gareth Evans, the former head of European equity strategy at Deutsche Bank.
Evans left Deutsche Bank in August after nearly five years, according to filings of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register and has joined Temasek’s London operation as a European strategist, according to sources close to the situation.
Temasek has yet to receive FCA authorisation, but unveiled plans to open a London office with the aim of targeting European investment opportunities in March. The sovereign wealth fund is hardly slumming it in the City, deciding to rent the top two floors of Standard Life Investment’s King Street building for over £125 per square foot – the highest rent paid by any firm in London since 2007.
The SWF has been quietly building its London investment team in the past few months. Fazeela Abdul Rashid, who was director in life sciences investments at Temasek in Singapore, transferred to London to take the role of director, investments for EMEA in March. Claire Ng, a former analyst at Goldman Sachs, has joined as a venture capital associate and Ara Yeromian, who previously worked at Credit Suisse, has signed up as an associate director. Both joined in May.
A lot of SWFs are based in their home countries, which can sometimes make it difficult to persuade talent to relocate and often involves employing teams of in-house recruiters who scour bulge bracket banks and large private equity firms in London, New York and Paris for potential recruits. However, some – like the Kuwait Investment Authority – have been opening branches in large financial centres so it is easier to target talent and local investments.
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