Franklin Templeton hires a former GAM veteran to be its new China equity portfolio manager and replace the retiring incumbent.
Michael Lai joins the firm as senior vice president and portfolio manager focusing on China equity strategies within Franklin Templeton’s emerging market equity’s unit (FTEME). In his Hong Kong-based role, Lai reports to Sukumar Rajah, senior managing director and director of portfolio management, Asia equity within FTEME.
Lai replaces Eddie Chow who will retire, effective September 1, after 25 years with the firm.
Lai has more than 30 years of investment experience and was most recently a lead portfolio manager of GAM’s China equity strategy since its inception in 2007. Concurrently, he also headed GAM’s Asian equity team in Hong Kong and was a lead portfolio manager for Asian strategy and also co-manager of other strategies. Previously, he held similar Asian equity strategy roles with Trust Company of the West (Asia) and BZW.
«Fastest growing investment destination»
According to Franklin Templeton’s CIO for FTEME Manraj Sekhon, China is a key market focus as it is one of the «fastest growing investment destination» for its clients.
«Michael [Lai] is a highly experienced and proven investor in this arena and this appointment along with the recent additions of Jason Zhu and Yu-Jen Shih, reflects our commitment to continuing to build out our China and Asia equity investment platform,» he added.
Franklin Templeton’s roots in China date back to 1987 when it first began on-the-ground research and subsequently led to China equity portfolio management since 1995 and dedicated China A-share portfolio since 2010.
