Leaderships

Sniper Capital was founded by Tom Ashworth and Martin Tacon. The pair contributes more than 50 years of combined experience in finance and real estate to the company.

Tom AshworthFounder
Tom Ashworth has over 25 years of experience in international finance and investment, 18 of which have been in Asia. He commenced his career at HSBC Securities in London and Hong Kong before moving to Morgan Stanley Asia. Starting in 2000, he pioneered and successfully grew a number of businesses in the finance and alternative investment sectors. Inspired by Macau’s significant growth potential and significantly undervalued real estate market, he identified numerous early-stage property investment opportunities in the territory. This culminated in him co-founding Sniper Capital with his business partner, Martin Tacon, in 2004.
Martin TaconFounder
Martin Tacon is an experienced real estate professional with more than 25 years’ experience in transaction-driven property investment. He has successfully identified and capitalised on Asian real estate opportunities within the investment banking, structured finance and asset management businesses. Before he co-founded Sniper Capital, he worked in the real estate investment banking divisions of HSBC, Credit Suisse First Boston and, more recently, Zurich Re, where he built a US$1 billion pipeline of structured finance transactions. He is a Professional Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

With offices in Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore, Sniper Capital’s team is comprised of a group of 30 experienced professionals.

Our key executives have been with the company since its beginnings and the team thrives on creative thinking and a spirit of entrepreneurship, fostered through an open corporate culture with minimum bureaucracy.

Key Executives

Joe ShumChief Financial Officer
Joe Shum’s experience in finance spans more than 10 years. In his current role, he has direct oversight of financial reporting, treasury management, corporate finance, tax strategies, fund planning and budgeting. Before joining Sniper Capital, he was a Vice President at HSBC Alternative Fund Services, where he specialised in private equity/hedge fund administration. Earlier in his career, he was also a Finance Manager for AIG Global Real Estate’s Asia region and an Audit Manager at Ernst & Young. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
João AfonsoDirector - Macau Operations
João Afonso began his career with the Macau government, where he held a wide range of positions over a period of eight years. He has developed a wealth of government and industry relationships, which he capitalised on by establishing the MIRR Real Estate Company in 1994. There, he became actively involved in a broad range of local residential and commercial property development projects before joining Sniper Capital in 2004. As one of the founding team members, he oversees the Macau office and has spearheaded project development and marketing for a number of the company’s residential projects in Macau.