EIG hires exec from CIC to run Hong Kong office

Yangyang Liu, a former private equity official with China Investment Corp (CIC), joined EIG Global Energy Partners in September, according to her LinkedIn profile and EIG’s website. Liu joined to lead EIG’s Honk Kong office, the website said.

EIG announced the opening of the new office in 2012, but didn’t say who would lead it. At the time, EIG said two investment professionals relocated to Hong Kong from the firm’s Washington, D.C. headquarters to work in the office.

“The firm will supplement that with a number of local hires,” EIG said in a statement at the time. It’s not clear if EIG ever publicly announced the hiring of Liu.

EIG is familiar with CIC as the firm sold a small part of itself to the sovereign fund in 2012, according to a statement at the time.

As part of the firm’s Asia expansion, EIG partnered with Korea’s Woori Asset Management and POSCO, a steelmaker, to launch the POSCO Woori EIG Global Private Equity Fund focused on natural resources in 2012, according to the statement from EIG.

Liu worked at CIC for five years, starting in the private equity group and moving to the Special Investment Department covering oil and gas. She took over as head of oil and gas in 2013, according to her bio on EIG’s website.

Prior to CIC, Liu worked for six years at Morgan Stanley in its Honk Kong, New York and London offices. She worked on the energy team and in mergers and acquisitions, her bio said.

EIG last year raised its largest fund to date, the $6 billion Energy Fund XVI, beating its target of $4.25 billion. The pool included commitments from 150 limited partners from 18 countries, EIG said.

EIG is led by partners R. Blair Thomas, chairman and chief executive, William Sonneborn, president, Kurt Talbot, vice chairman, and Randall Wade, chief operating officer. 

EIG did not respond to a request for comment.