Rui Hua heads the Hong Kong business and investment for ESR and reports directly to co-founders and co-CEOs Jeffrey Shen and Stuart Gibson. She focuses on driving ESR’s business in Hong Kong and Greater Bay Area as well as investment into new economy assets. In May 2021, she co-led and completed ESR’s first data center acquisition in Hong Kong and in July 2022, she won ESR’s first logistic land bid in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong. Concurrently, she is also appointed as the Executive Director and Responsible Officer for the fund management arm ESR HKAM and is responsible for raising new funds to invest in new economy assets.

Rui Hua joined ESR in 1st September 2019 as the Group Head of Capital Markets and Investor Relations. She was part of the IPO team which successfully listed ESR on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 1st November 2019. Rui Hua was also part of the ESR deal team that acquired ARA Asset Management Limited with US$5.2 billion, which was one of Hong Kong’s largest M&A in 2021. In May 2022, Rui Hua led the sell-down of ESR’s CNLP stake which delivered about US$800 million gain.

Before joining ESR, Rui Hua was the General Manager and Head of Capital Markets and Corporate Finance, and Corporate Planning for CapitaLand China where she was involved in fund raising from local Chinese & foreign institutional investors, capital markets and corporate finance deals, and strategic planning and direction. She also led the sell-down of CapitaLand’s S$500 million stake in a Hong Kong listed real estate company in June 2019. Prior to her stint in China, she was the Group Head of CapitaLand’s Investor Relations and Capital Markets Compliance based in Singapore, managing institutional and public investors; interfacing with regulators on corporate governance, REITs regulation and disclosure matters; and handling key proxy providers. Rui Hua joined CapitaLand Limited in 2013 as the Assistant Vice President, Group CFO’s Office. She structured and executed CapitaLand’s key strategic projects such as privatisation of CapitaMalls Asia, and corporate finance projects like issuing and repurchasing convertible bonds.

Besides extensive real estate experience, Rui Hua also has vast investment banking experience with China International Capital Corporation and DBS Bank Ltd. She raised more than S$7.5 billion from the capital markets and many high-profile IPOs of international companies in Singapore such as Tiger Airways and Xinren Aluminum.

In 2022, Rui Hua won the Hong Kong Business Management Excellence Award – Executive of the Year for Logistics. She also led the ESR team to win various IR Magazine Awards in 2022, 2021 and 2020 for Greater China region. In 2017, Rui Hua was also voted as “Asia’s Best Investor Relations Professional (Property)” 1st place for overall and sell-side in Institutional Investors’ 2017 All-Asia Executive Team Ranking. Previously, she was also named the “Best Investor Relations Officer (For Large Cap Companies)” in the IR Magazine Awards Southeast Asia 2017 and 2015. Under her leadership, CapitaLand also won the 1st place for “Best at Investor Relations in Singapore” in FinanceAsia Asia’s Best Companies 2017 and “Best Investor Relations Bronze Award” (For Large Caps) in Singapore Corporate Awards 2016.

On the social front, Rui Hua currently serves as advisor in the NUS Economics Alumni Committee and a member of the Information and Corporate Relations Standing Committee of the Singapore Children’s Society. She was on the Board of Directors for Hwa Chong International School from 2017 to 2019.

Rui Hua received her Masters’ in International Public Policy (Merit) from University College London, Department of Politics and also graduated with a BSc in Social Science, Economics (2nd Upper Class Honors) from the National University of Singapore. In 2016, Rui Hua attended the Advanced Management Programme in Booth School of Business, University of Chicago. She is also a holder of the International Certificate of Investor Relations (ICIR) and Professional Fellow for Chartered Manager (CMgr FCMI).