OTPP Appoints Bruce Crane as Head of APAC

Michael Katz of Chief Investment Officer reports Ontario Teachers’ Pension taps new Asia-Pacific Head:

The C$247.2 billion ($186.9 billion) Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has promoted Bruce Crane to executive managing director and head of its Asia-Pacific region, effective immediately. He succeeds Ben Chan, who retired in June.

Crane was most recently a senior managing director, responsible for overseeing and managing infrastructure and natural resources investments for the pension fund in the Asia-Pacific region. Crane, who now reports to CIO Ziad Hindo, has been tasked with leading investment activities and portfolio management for the Asia-Pacific region at Ontario Teachers’ offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Mumbai, India. According to the pension fund, it currently has more than 85 employees in the region.

“As head of APAC, Bruce will play a leading role as we continue to progress our global growth strategy and deepen our investment activities across the region,” Hindo said in a release. “He has done an outstanding job over the last three years building our [infrastructure and natural resources] portfolio and team in the region. His extensive global experience, exceptional knowledge of the APAC region and the strong relationships he has cultivated both inside and outside the plan make him a natural choice for this expanded role.”

Crane joined the pension fund in 2020 as the first employee in its Singapore office, with a mandate to open an office there and staff it during the COVID lockdown. At the same time, he was also managing the pension fund’s infrastructure and natural resources portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region.

Before joining OTPP, Crane worked for nearly 10 years at Toronto-based OMERS Infrastructure, the infrastructure investment adviser and manager of the Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System, where he most recently led their investments in Asia. He was also based in New York, where he focused on North and South America transport and energy investments. Prior to OMERS, Crane worked in investment banking at UBS and Morgan Stanley. Before that, he was a field engineer for Swiss global engineering conglomerate Foster Wheeler.

He holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.

Nathalie Koh of Pensions & Investments also reports Ontario Teachers picks new Asia-Pacific head:

Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Toronto, promoted Bruce Crane to the position of executive managing director and head of Asia-Pacific, the C$247.2 billion ($187.5 billion) fund said in a statement on Tuesday.

He continues to be based in Singapore and the role is effective immediately, the statement said.

He replaces Hong Kong-based Ben Chan, who retired earlier this month. Mr. Crane reports to CIO Ziad Hindo.

In his new role, Mr. Crane leads investment activities and portfolio management across its Asian offices, specifically Hong Kong, Mumbai and Singapore. The fund has more than 85 employees in Asia, according to the statement.

Mr. Crane was Ontario Teachers' first Singapore-based employee in 2020. Before his promotion, he was senior managing director for infrastructure and natural resources in Asia-Pacific.

Before that, he was employed with the infrastructure investment arm of another Canadian pension fund, the Ontario Municipal Employees' Retirement System, Toronto, for nearly a decade, where he most recently led the Asia investment team. OMERS Infrastructure has C$34 billion in assets.

Mr. Crane will continue to carry out his duties as head of APAC for infrastructure and natural resources for the time being, a spokeswoman said.

A couple of weeks ago, Ontario Teachers' put out a statement stating it has appointed Bruce Crane as Head of Asia-Pacific Region:

TORONTO, CANADA – Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Ontario Teachers') continues to deepen its global capabilities with the appointment of Bruce Crane to the position of Executive Managing Director and Head of Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, succeeding Ben Chan who retired earlier this month. The appointment is effective immediately.

Mr. Crane will report to Chief Investment Officer Ziad Hindo and will lead investment activities and portfolio management in APAC across Ontario Teachers’ offices in Hong Kong, Mumbai and Singapore. Ontario Teachers’ currently has more than 85 employees in the region.

Mr. Crane was hired in 2020 as Ontario Teachers’ first Singapore office employee, with a mandate to open and staff an office during lockdown, growing our presence across APAC and leading the Infrastructure & Natural Resources (INR) portfolio in APAC. He has nearly three decades of experience in public and private markets, investment banking and advisory services in both APAC and the Americas.

“As head of APAC, Bruce will play a leading role as we continue to progress our global growth strategy and deepen our investment activities across the region,” said Mr. Hindo. “He has done an outstanding job over the last three years building our INR portfolio and team in the region. His extensive global experience, exceptional knowledge of the APAC region and the strong relationships has cultivated both inside and outside the Plan make him a natural choice for this expanded role.”

About Ontario Teachers'
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers') is a global investor with net assets of $247.2 billion as at December 31, 2022. We invest in more than 50 countries in a broad array of assets including public and private equities, fixed income, credit, commodities, natural resources, infrastructure, real estate and venture growth to deliver retirement income for 336,000 working members and pensioners.

With offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, San Francisco, Singapore and Toronto, our more than 400 investment professionals bring deep expertise in a broad range of sectors and industries. We are a fully funded defined benefit pension plan and have earned an annual total-fund net return of 9.5% since the plan's founding in 1990. At Ontario Teachers', we don't just invest to make a return, we invest to shape a better future for the teachers we serve, the businesses we back, and the world we live in. For more information, visit otpp.com and follow us on Twitter @OtppInfo.

I have not written a comment on the big executive shift in APAC at OTPP so let me get to it.

First, it was exactly to the day five years ago that Ben Chan was appointed to be the regional head of APAC at OTPP. It was Ron Mock, OTPP's former CEO who appointed Ben to this critical position. 

Last year, I covered an AsianInvestor interview where Ben discussed OTPP's focus in the region.

So, I was a bit surprised to see Ben go and Bruce step into that position but it sends a message to everyone there from the top (ie. Jo Taylor) that he wants them to turbocharge investments in APAC.

Bruce Crane is a low key guy but he was instrumental in delivering a lot of big investments in Infrastructure and Natural Resources in the APAC region and he has tremendous experience and great relationships in the region, which OTPP CIO Ziad Hindo alluded to.

Now, between you, me and the lamppost, Teachers' is already preparing Bruce Crane to be the next CEO of the organization and if he delivers big on APAC, the job is his when Jo Taylor steps down.

He has a lot of competition in the APAC region as pretty much all the big Canadian pension funds have shifted their focus to expand in that region.

One thing is for sure, with Teachers' bifurcating Cadillac Fairview, bringing international real estate division in-house, Crane will be overseeing the expansion of this important asset class in that region.

What this means is expect more property ventures in APAC like the one they did with Hines two years ago.

Even though he will be reporting to Ziad Hindo, Bruce Crane has a mandate from Jo Taylor, "get it done," meaning ramp up private market investments in APAC region so Teachers' achieves its North Star of attaining $300 billion in net assets by 2030.

Crane is a deliverer, low key and very focused, he will be putting pressure on all his managing directors to deliver results.

But with global rates rising fast and geopolitical tensions high, they will be operating in one of the most challenging environments ever for the APAC region.

That's the other reason Crane was chosen to lead this region, he has the experience to navigate storms and will leverage on his extensive relationships to make deals happen when the going gets tough.

Let me end by wishing Ben Chan all the best as he did a solid job as Head of APAC and once again wish Bruce Crane and his entire team in Singapore and APAC region lots of success as they ramp up investments in that region.

Below, Kiki Yang, co-head of APAC private equity practice at Bain & Company, discusses the company’s Asia-Pacific private equity report for 2023, signs that the sector is improving and the challenges she’s seeing in fund raising. She speaks on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)