Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI) has increased its Asia-Pacific presence by hiring several professionals for its Singapore-based Asian arm.

The new hires include a recently appointed portfolio manager in Tokyo, along with asset management, research and marketing staff in Singapore, Seoul and Hong Kong, and follow the company's expansion to Beijing, Sydney and Seoul within the last year. PREI is the real estate asset management and advisory business of Prudential Financial.

PREI has been operating in Asia Pacific on behalf of institutional clients since 1994 and manages gross assets of $7.2 bn, investing in Japan, South Korea, China, Southeast Asia, Australia and India. The company recently opened an office in Beijing, naming company veteran Jason Chew managing director of Greater China. PREI has also added representatives in Australia and Korea, and expanded its office in Tokyo.

The newest hires involve Koichiro Maeda, named managing director and portfolio manager for Prudential Real Estate Investors (Japan); Benett Theseira, named managing director, Southeast Asia; Taeyun Won, recently appointed managing director responsible for investments and client management in Korea; Henry Chin, head of Asia Pacific research and strategy; Joyce Lo, senior vice president in Hong Kong and responsible for supporting client management efforts and product development in the Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) region.

The recent hirings follow the announcement earlier this year of the appointment of Steve Bulloch to lead the firm's expansion into Australia and responsible for sourcing property acquisition opportunities for PREI's current institutional clients.