Future Fund CEO Raphael Arndt to step down; Mapletree Industrial Trust, ESR name new leaders
Raphael Arndt will step down as chief executive of Australia's Future Fund at year's end after growing AUM to A$356 billion. Mapletree Industrial Trust Management appoints Anand Tze Ming Chandran as CEO from 1 Oct. ESR names Dalmar Sheikh as CEO of its data centres unit.
Raphael Arndt, the longest-serving chief executive in the two-decade history of Australia’s Future Fund, will step down at year’s end after growing the sovereign wealth fund’s total assets under management to A$356 billion, leading this week’s look at personnel moves from around Asia Pacific’s real estate industry.
Arndt, who spent six years as CEO and almost two decades at the fund, previously served six years as chief investment officer and led its infrastructure and timberland programs. Future Fund chair Greg Combet said in a statement that Arndt grew total funds under management from A$205 billion to A$356 billion during his tenure. The organisation has yet to name a successor.
Mapletree Industrial Trust Management has appointed Anand Tze Ming Chandran, 43, as chief executive and executive director effective 1 October, succeeding Lily Ler, according to filings with the Singapore Exchange. Chandran joins from the trust’s sponsor, Mapletree Investments, where he has headed Asia Pacific data centre operations since February, and earlier spent nearly six years at Kuok Group’s data centre platform, K2 Strategic, rising to chief financial officer. Ler, who took the helm in 2024, moves up to group chief financial officer at Mapletree Investments after 15 years with the REIT manager.
ESR has appointed Dalmar Sheikh as chief executive of ESR Data Centres, effective 1 September, succeeding Diarmid Massey, who has left the company. Sheikh, based in Singapore, joins from CtrlS Datacenters, where he served as chief operating officer, and earlier spent time at Blackstone-backed DataSphere Advisory as managing director. He previously ran global data centre operations at Actis and spent nearly a decade at Amazon Web Services across Asia Pacific infrastructure roles. Sheikh will oversee ESR’s data centre pipeline of more than 3.2 gigawatts across Japan, South Korea and Australia.
Coliwoo Holdings’ chief operating officer and executive officer, Darren Loh Yue Tjoe, 42, has resigned to pursue other career opportunities, with his last day set for 30 September, according to a cessation filing with the Singapore Exchange. Loh has been with the Singapore coliving operator, a unit of LHN Limited, since 2021, rising from chief product officer to chief strategy officer in 2024 and then chief operating officer last year, spanning Coliwoo’s November listing on the SGX Mainboard.
Harvest Fund Management has appointed Fang Qiushi as fund manager of its JD.com-backed storage infrastructure REIT, effective 25 August, succeeding Wang Yijun, who is departing for personal reasons, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Fang joined Harvest in August 2023 as a senior manager in its public REITs unit after roles at CITIC Securities, Industrial Bank and Ping An Trust.
Barclays has appointed Ramin Naji as managing director and head of healthcare and real estate for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong, according to a company announcement. Naji takes on his new role after more than seven years as head of healthcare for the region at Deutsche Bank.
Dajia Investment Holding has promoted Bokang Cheng to deputy head of real estate investment from senior director, according to a LinkedIn update. Cheng invests across digital infrastructure, rental housing, retail, office and logistics for the Beijing-based alternative investment platform of Dajia Insurance Group.
Goodman has appointed Michael Robertson as head of data centre operations, based in Sydney, according to a LinkedIn update. Robertson joins from Microsoft, where he spent just over three years as critical environment operations manager for Australia, and earlier worked more than four years at AirTrunk in technical services and facilities roles.
