Gordon Tang’s Acrophyte Set to Buy Manager of Suntec REIT From ESR for $147M

Singapore’s most acquisitive, and mysterious, real estate investor is set to add the manager of a major real estate investment trust to his empire, according to a statement late Tuesday, continuing a string of moves involving SGX-listed property entities. 

Acrophyte Asset Management, a company controlled by mainland China born financier Gordon Tang and his wife Celine, have agreed to purchase the manager of Suntec REIT from ESR for S$190 million ($147 million), according to an announcement to the Singapore exchange, with the deal coming after the couple had failed in an attempt to take the listed trust private earlier this year. 

With the manager buyout pending approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Tang, whose source of wealth has never been publicly documented, positioned the offer as a product of his admiration for a trust that owns stakes in several high profile commercial assets in the city-state’s Marina Bay area.

“With capable leadership from the Manager and seasoned oversight from the Board, Suntec REIT has built an iconic portfolio of assets with a focus on Singapore,” Tang said in a joint statement with the manager of Suntec REIT. “We have consistently shown our confidence in Suntec REIT, via our significant long-term unitholding. Acquiring the Manager is an extension of our commitment to Suntec REIT.”

Tang Empire Grows 

Tang currently owns, directly and through his affiliates a 35.7 percent stake in Suntec REIT, according to the joint statement, while ESR has a 10.8 percent holding. 

Just over one year ago Tang and his wife launched a buyout offer to take Suntec REIT private after acquiring 31.45 percent of the units in the listed trust – surpassing the 30 percent ownership threshold for such a gambit. Despite later sweetening the offer, Tang’s buyout attempt fell short of the 50 percent acceptance required, with analysts describing the pricing as “lowball.”

Managing Suntec REIT, which has a 5.7 million square foot (592,547 square metre) portfolio valued at S$11.8 billion, according to its website, has been a lucrative business for ESR, which is now rejigging its portfolio after having been taken private earlier this year by a consortium including Starwood Capital Group, SSW Partners, Sixth Street, Warburg Pincus, the Qatar Investment Authority, and ESR’s founders.

Suntec REIT’s portfolio spans Singapore, Australia and the UK, with its holdings in its home city including the Suntec City mall, a two-thirds interest in Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre and one-third stakes in the One Raffles Quay, Marina Bay Financial Centre Towers 1 and 2 office assets and in the Marina Bay Link Mall. 

In Australia the trust owns 177 Pacific Highway and 21 Harris Street in Sydney, 50 percent stakes in the Southgate Complex and 477 Collins Street in Melbourne and 55 Currie Street in Adelaide. In the UK the trust holds the Minster Building in the City of London as well as a 50 percent interest in the Nova Building at 79 Buckingham Palace Road in London’s West End. 

Through a transaction agreed to in May last year, the Tangs bought the manager of ARA US Hospitality Trust from ESR through Acrophyte, while the couple’s children, through a separate entity named Acrophyte Ltd, acquired a 19 percent interest in the trust. With the family at that time already holding a 9.3 percent stake in ARA US Hospitality Trust, the deals took Tang-clan control of the REIT to 28.3 percent and made them the largest holders of its equity. 

The Tangs have since renamed the REIT as Acrophyte Hospitality Trust.

Acquisition Streak Continues

While Gordon Tang said in an earlier interview that he had been a professional windsurfer before beginning to build his Singapore property holdings in the mid-1990s, he has built a career as one of the city-state’s most prolific real estate investors. 

In addition to taking control of the manager of ARA US Hospitality Trust last year, and privatising Chip Eng Seng in 2023, Tang has taken over a string of companies and acquired some of Singapore’s most valuable development sites.

In September this year, Tang’s twenty-something son, Tang Jialin, acquired a Good Class Bungalow in Singapore for S$53 million, with the existing owner having spent S$38 million to acquire the home in 2023. That came after SingHaiyi Group and Haiyi Holdings, both controlled by the Tang family, in March agreed to pay S$659 million for a condo site next to Singapore’s Bayshore MRT station

The Tangs have also taken a 21 percent stake in the S$1.7 billion redevelopment of 8 Shenton Way in Tanjong Pagar through Chip Eng Seng, SingHaiyi and Haiyi Holdings. According to public filings this month, the Tang family also holds more than 20 percent of the equity in SGX-listed OUE REIT. 

Despite the lack of documentation on the source of the Tang family wealth, published accounts have indicated that the couple have extensive dealings with the family of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, including property transactions in Hong Kong and Cambodia. 

Note: This article has been updated to clarify that the portfolio described belongs to Suntec REIT, not ESR REIT as stated in an earlier version. Mingtiandi regrets the error.