Rumours and musings from the night watchman
Veteran who thrived in bad times exits
No one has a crystal ball to foretell the future, but a look at the fate of department heads at two international property consultancies recently may provide some interesting clues about prospects for the sector.
Ah Pak understands, for instance, that CB Richard Ellis executive director of investment property Henry Lam Wai-hon departed suddenly last Friday. Also making an exodus from the consulting business were four senior executives at rival DTZ, as a result of the merger of its Hong Kong and mainland investment teams into a single office unit.
CBRE's managing director for Hong Kong, Craig Shute, told Ah Pak that Mr Lam left under a mutual agreement. Alan Man, the firm's senior director of residential services, and associate director Gilbert Wan left CBRE in October.
Mr Lam's departure came as a surprise to the market, as he had showed an ability to close big property deals not only in market boom times but also in bad times. Among the most noticeable deals he was involved in was the sale of Tung Ying Commercial Building in Nathan Road for HK$1.1 billion to Chinese Estates Holdings in 2002, when the city was gripped by an economic downturn. He also brokered the HK$1.47 billion sale of Hongkong Land's grade A office building at 1063 King's Road to Pacific Century Insurance.
