DWS has appointed Junghoon Kook as head of real estate for Korea and Leiting Deng as head of real estate for Singapore, with both reporting to Christopher Kimm, the company’s head of real estate for Asia-Pacific.

Kook joined DWS in 2021 and has 18 years of industry experience. Since joining DWS, he has led the transactions team in Korea, helping to grow the company’s real estate footprint locally.

Prior to joining the company, Kook was the head of real estate and structured finance at Shinhan Asset Management where he led both overseas and domestic investments and capital raising. During his three-and-a-half-year tenure at Shinhan, he established a total of nine funds, accumulating approximately US$1.5 billion in value.

Deng joined DWS in 2013 and has more than 16 years of real estate experience. Her expanded role will see her continue as a portfolio manager for the Asian funds business, in addition to overseeing the growth of the Singapore real estate platform. Previously, she covered the Australian and Chinese markets in transactions and asset management.

Prior to joining DWS, Deng was the portfolio manager of a real estate core fund at LaSalle Investment Management, and an investment and asset management analyst in CapitaMall Trust (now CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust).

“Kook’s depth of experience and established networks will benefit our reputation as a major real estate player in Korea,” Kimm says. “Deng’s local knowledge combined with investment expertise across key real estate disciplines will be critical in growing our assets under management in Singapore.”