JLL Hires Tan Boon Leong, Ng Ee Kiat to Bolster Singapore Industrial Team

After bringing aboard Tom Woolhouse earlier this year to lead its Singapore-based logistics and industrial team for Asia Pacific, JLL has made two more outside hires to boost its shed-shifting power.

Tan Boon Leong and Ng Ee Kiat, both jumping from Knight Frank Singapore into newly created roles at JLL, will focus on serving leasing and capital markets clients in the city-state’s logistics and industrial segment, the company said in a press release issued Monday.

Tan joins the global consultancy as executive director of logistics and industrial for Singapore, while Ng is senior director of logistics and industrial for the city-state. The appointments took immediate effect, with both men reporting to Woolhouse.

“Bringing together expertise in urban logistics and supply chain consulting with our brokerage teams will enable us to give clients more comprehensive advice to support them with future-proofing their logistics strategy,” Woolhouse said. “Welcoming Boon Leong and Ee Kiat reinforces the importance we are placing on this segment in Singapore.”

Strength of Experience

Tan brings 29 years of logistics and industrial experience to his new role at JLL. His track record includes sale and leaseback transactions and build-to-suit and customised business-space solutions.

Tan spent five years at Knight Frank Singapore as executive director and head of industrial. Before that, he served as executive director of industrial services at Colliers International Singapore, where he worked for 22 years.

Equipped with both a bachelor’s degree in estate management and a master’s degree in real estate from the National University of Singapore, Tan is also a certified agent of the Council for Estate Agencies of Singapore.

Ng, who has worked closely with Tan through much of his career, served most recently as a director within the industrial services team at Knight Frank Singapore. Like Tan, he is an NUS grad who joined Knight Frank in 2016 and also has Colliers experience.

Expanded Services

Woolhouse, who was hired away from CBRE in January, is responsible for expanding and enhancing JLL Asia Pacific’s capabilities across the entire value chain of the logistics and industrial sector. He sits on JLL’s Global Industrial Board, which sets global strategy for the firm’s three operating regions (Americas, EMEA and APAC).

From March 2017 to this year, Woolhouse served as senior director in charge of CBRE’s industrial and logistics capital markets team in London. His experience includes advising clients on the acquisition, disposal, development and funding of single assets and portfolios in the UK industrial and logistics market.

Woolhouse said JLL is investing heavily to expand its service offering and sector expertise to meet growing client demand.

“Across Asia Pacific existing trends across supply chains, retail and e-commerce have accelerated, leading to an increased demand for services related to this specialist asset class,” he said.

Logistics, the breakout performer of COVID-wracked 2020, is likely to experience growth again this year, boosted by rising internet penetration in Asia Pacific and the expansion of online grocery and omnichannel retailing. APAC is set to account for 50 percent of global e-commerce logistics by 2024, according to JLL’s outlook for Asia Pacific capital markets released in January.

JLL noted that among investors it has worked with — which boast $1.8 trillion in assets under management — 81 percent planned to increase their exposure to logistics in 2021.