Richard Li's PineBridge Makes Ex-Standard Chartered Mervyn Davies Chairman

Mervyn Davies, former head of Standard Chartered Plc, joined Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li’s PineBridge Investments as chairman, as the former unit of American International Group Inc. expands its global operations.

Davies will continue to be based in the U.K., PineBridge said in an e-mailed statement today. He served in the U.K. government as a trade minister until May, after quitting as chairman of Standard Chartered in 2008, the statement said.

In March, Li’s Pacific Century Group paid an initial $277 million to buy PineBridge from AIG, as the insurer sells assets to repay a $182.3 billion U.S. government bailout.

“Lord Davies is a well-known figure in Hong Kong society and also enjoys strong connectivity in the Greater China region,” said Will Tan, managing director at Singapore-based recruiting firm Principle Partners Pte. “His appointment will help grow the PineBridge brand name in North Asia. This will help PineBridge move towards becoming a global fund manager with a large Asian footprint.”

PineBridge now manages $78 billion of client assets, the statement said. The New York-based fund management firm was previously called AIG Global Investment Corp.

Davies is a “complementary addition” to PineBridge, the firm’s Chief Executive Officer Win Neuger said in the statement.

Davies, 57, joined U.S. buyout firm Corsair Capital LLC as partner in August. He was chief executive officer at Standard Chartered for five years until being appointed chairman in November 2006.

Davies left after about 16 years with the London-based bank, which makes most of its profits from emerging markets such as Hong Kong and India. He was replaced by John Peace as chairman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net