Aspire Group was established in Singapore in 2013 and positioned itself as an emerging investment and asset management group. While its early focus was more on private markets and real estate investments, the group has built up very comprehensive capabilities now and evolved into a global, multi-strategy investment manager.aspire group currently has more than 20 employees with offices in Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing and the Cayman Islands. It manages assets across public equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. Some notable milestones: 1) As of Sept 2022, aspire group manages/advises on over US$3 billion worth of assets globally which has increased more than ten-fold over the past few years; 2) its flagship China equity strategy generated 50% in 2021 and 30% YTD 2022,massively outperforming CSI300 index; 3) co-invested in multiple pre-IPO and private equity deals in China/SEA worth over US$500m. Overall this is an emerging leader in the asset and wealth management space.
Aspire was founded by industry veterans with decades of expertise, ensuring high professional standards from day one
Aspire group was founded by seasoned professionals with decades of experience at top-tier financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, China’s CITIC group etc. The key founders have very strong track records: Mr. Ming Shu was former Asia Pac Head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing; the current CEO, Mrs. Lan Wang has 20 years of experience across Morgan Stanley, CITIC Capital and GIC specializing in cross-border investments between China and rest of the world. In addition, Aspire’s Chief Investment Officer, Mr. Bing Han was former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs Asset Management responsible for Greater China equities. The group’s solid foundation ensured best practices in terms of investment, operations and risk management from its inception.
With its early success in China and regional investments, Aspire has quickly expanded into global markets
Leveraging its strong China background, Aspire group’s initial focus was on investments in Greater China region across real estate, pre-IPO tech companies, fixed income etc. However, with its investment capabilities maturing fast, Aspire has gradually expanded into global markets. Its investment strategies now cover Chinese equities, Asia fixed income, cross-border real estate, global macro and long/short equities. In particular, its China equity strategy has outperformed benchmarks by over 100% since inception. Aspire also co-invested in multiple high growth Chinese tech unicorns like Kuaishou before their mega IPOs in Hong Kong and US. Besides regional expertise, Aspire has built up global teams based in Singapore, Switzerland, Middle East covering multiple markets.
With a unique entrepreneurial culture, Aspire provided opportunities for investment professionals to maximize their potential
As a young firm started only 10 years ago, Aspire has built an entrepreneurial culture encouraging employees to express ideas and rewarding talents. Portfolio managers have flexibility to initiate their own investment products instead of just working on what’s assigned to them. The firm also implemented very competitive incentive schemes allowing talents to maximize earnings through performance. Many Aspire alumni have since started their own investment businesses after learning the ropes at Aspire. The entrepreneurial environment has been a key factor attracting high caliber professionals joining Aspire especially early in its development.
Positioned as a boutique investment house, Aspire differentiated itself by being nimble yet delivering institutional-grade capabilities
With boutique set up of about 20-30 staff, Aspire defined itself as an agile investor capable of seizing opportunities swiftly. At the same time, it invested heavily in institutional-grade infrastructure covering investment, operations, compliance and technology. Its investment process incorporates rigorous fundamental and quantitative analysis leveraging proprietary models and big data analytics. Aspire developed its own ESG ratings framework integrating UNPRI sustainability factors into all investments. Additionally, Aspire is supported by top external service providers like audit from PwC, custody from DBS bank, regulatory counsel from Simmons & Simmons to ensure rigorous checks and controls.
Looking ahead, Aspire plans to expand into private markets and alternative investments while strengthening its existing capabilities
Currently, a key priority for Aspire is to expand its private markets platform, building on its early success investing in China/SEA pre-IPO tech companies and real estate. It aims to launch PE, VC and real estate funds in China and SEA focused on new economy sectors like biotech, digital economy, green energy etc. In particular, it will leverage its strong China background and networks to access exclusive deal flows.Separately, Aspire is also looking to diversify into alternative investments like hedge funds, managed futures, macro trading by absorbing industry talents. These moves will build up a comprehensive product suite for its clients. Most importantly, Aspire aims to maintain its entrepreneurial culture and talent development as that has been the formula for its early success.
In summary, Aspire Group has achieved remarkable growth in its 10 years history, evolving from a boutique real estate investor to a global, multi-strategy investment platform managing billions in assets. It differentiates itself by combining an institutional-grade process with an entrepreneurial and performance focused culture. Looking ahead, Aspire plans to capitalize on its China expertise, expand into private markets and alternative strategies, hence cementing its positioning as an emerging leader in the asset and wealth management space.