Gramercy, the US-based institutional asset manager dedicated to emerging market investments, has opened new offices in Hong Kong and Singapore with aim of strengthening its Asia practice.

The announcement comes after the appointment of William Shia as managing director and head of Asian investments in 22 February 2011 and Andrew Williams as managing director and Asia and Middle East regional head in 20 December last year. Shia will be based in the Hong Kong office, while Williams will be in Singapore.

In these new roles, Shia will be responsible for investment research, analysis, corporate investments, and trading within the Asia markets, while Williams will focus on business development opportunities in sovereign wealth funds, central banks, institutional investors, and family offices across the region.

"We see more and more investors from emerging market economies looking to invest in emerging markets as they diversify their portfolios and seek a return stream that is less correlated to developed markets," Williams said in a statement.

The new Hong Kong office will be located at Central, while the Singapore office will be at One Raffles Quay.