ESR Group Limited, APAC’s largest real asset manager powered by the New Economy, is pleased to announce the promotions of Josh Daitch to Group Chief Investment Officer and Matthew Lawson to Group Chief Operating Officer, effective 11 July 2023. In his new role as Group Chief Investment Officer, Josh Daitch will oversee Fund Management, Capital Raising, Research and Analytics and New Product Creation. Prior to this new appointment, Mr. Daitch was ESR Group Head of Capital & New Economy Fund Management. Since joining ESR in 2018, he has played a pivotal role in expanding the Group’s key investor relationships and in driving performance across the fund management segment.

Mr. Daitch brings nearly three decades of real estate investment experience having held leadership roles across the private equity and real estate divisions in various financial institutions, including Mesirow Financial, where he founded the real estate investment management division, and the Archon Group, Goldman Sachs’ real estate management subsidiary, where he was part of the original team that Goldman acquired from the J.E. Robert Companies in 1996.

As part of the Group’s focus on delivering operational excellence as well as simplifying and streamlining its business, Matthew Lawson, currently the Chief Financial Officer at ESR Australia, will assume the role of Group Chief Operating Officer. In this newly created role, Mr. Lawson will actively support the Group Co-CEOs and work closely with the ESR business unit leadership in the delivery of key growth initiatives and performance across the Group. Given the Group’s growing scale, he will also seek to optimise the firm’s operating capabilities and deliver a more streamlined business and an enhanced cost structure. Additionally, Mr. Lawson will also oversee Information Technology, Insurance and Business Resilience and other key Group functions.

Mr. Lawson brings with him over 20 years of experience in leading global real estate investment and financial services companies across the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining ESR in 2020, he was an Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Limited, a leading hotel owner and operator under The Peninsula hotel brand. Before this, Mr. Lawson was a Managing Director at JPMorgan and Head of their Real Estate investment banking practice in Asia, based in Hong Kong.

Stuart Gibson and Jeffrey Shen, ESR Group Co-founders and Co-CEOs, said: “We want to congratulate Josh and Matt on their new and expanded roles across the Group. The promotions reflect the immense depth of talent across the organization which continues to serve as a defining core competitive advantage for us. We remain laser focused in further streamlining the business and harnessing the enlarged platform to deliver best-in-class solutions for our capital partners, customers and stakeholders. As we look forward, we are excited to work closely with Josh, Matt and the broader senior leadership team to leverage our three key pillars of growth, New Economy, Alternatives and REITs, to deliver long- term sustainable value for all our stakeholders.”