News & Analysis

State Street bets on Asia alternatives

Bob Keogh has been appointed head of alternatives in the region to expand the firm’s PE operations.

-

State Street Corporation has relocated Bob Keogh from Europe to Hong Kong as head of alternative investment solutions for the group, including private equity, real estate and hedge funds, in a move to strengthen its alternatives capabilities across the region, according to a statement.

Keogh was previously senior managing director of the firm’s hedge funds business in Europe, having joined State Street from Goldman Sachs in 2012 as part of State Street’s acquisition of Goldman Sachs Administration Services.

He has worked in financial services for 20 years, 14 of which have been in the hedge funds industry. At Goldman, Keogh was head of the GSAS business in Europe and Asia where he established offices in Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“Asia is one of the most significant growth areas for our alternative servicing business. With Bob’s broad experience and expertise, we can deliver a best-in-class operational capability both for our clients in Asia Pacific as well as global alternatives managers that benefit from a regional follow-the-sun capability that includes processing and servicing solutions,” Bhagesh Malde, senior managing director for State Street’s alternative investments business, said in a statement.

He added, “State Street’s recent global research shows that more capital has been flowing into alternative assets and this looks set to continue. As the alternative fund management industry continues to grow in both size and complexity, institutional investors are becoming more sophisticated and demanding and are allocating more assets to private equity, real estate and hedge funds to diversify portfolios, reduce volatility and construct portfolios that match their longer-term investment objectives.”

State Street Corporation is a financial services firm dealing in investment servicing, investment management and investment research and trading. The firm had $28.4 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $2.48 trillion in assets under management as of 30 June 2014, according to the firm.