Ascott Groundbreaking Showcases Chinese Tycoon’s Singapore Property Ambitions

Another Chinese tycoon is displaying a taste for Singapore commercial property with the groundbreaking of a Tanjong Pagar project highlighting the market entry of one of the mainland’s biggest steel entrepreneurs.

The Ascott Ltd, the hospitality division of CapitaLand Investment announced on Monday that, together with a locally registered company called New Vision Ltd, it has broken ground on Ascott Shenton Way Singapore, a hotel and serviced apartment complex near Anson Road, with plans to develop a 137-unit property on the site.

While the CapitaLand Investment unit hailed the deal as providing it with a second central Singapore property under its Ascott brand, development of the 29-storey tower is the work of a unit of Hsteel Pte Ltd, a private vehicle controlled by Fujian-born You Zhenhua, a former executive with China’s largest steel maker who went on to found Beijing-based Ruiganglian Group Co, Ltd in 2003, according to records on mainland corporate database Tianyancha. 

The project adds You to a growing list of Chinese developers and investors putting their stamp on Singapore, with Guangdong-backed Elegant Group having recently purchased the Clementi Mall as its fifth commercial asset in the city-state.

From Steel to Property

“This is New Vision’s first hospitality project, and we are committed to establishing a defining luxury lifestyle flagship that will serve as a legacy property for generations to come,” New Vision managing director Tong Yan said in a statement. 

The deal comes after You, who was born in 1968, established Green Esteel in Singapore in 2017, with Esteel Enterprise, another company controlled by You, linked to both Green Esteel and Ruiganglian Group, according to corporate records.  

Based in Beijing’s Dongcheng district, Ruiganglian Group is reputed to be China’s largest privately owned iron trader, and is involved in production and sales of steel and other metals, coke and building materials. The company also controls Shanghai Ruiyelian Industrial Co., Ltd.

You established Prosperity Steel Singapore Pte Ltd in 2003, the same year that he set up Ruiganglian Group in China, before establishing Esteel with fellow mainland steel investor Liu Bin. Esteel took over SGX-listed steel fabricator BRC Asia Ltd in September 2017, and You’s Green Esteel last year acquired a 50.1 percent stake in Malaysia’s Southern Steel Bhd in a move seen by analysts as a consolidation of steel making in Southeast Asia. 

Tanjong Pagar Base

You’s New Vision is developing Ascott Shenton Way Singapore on the site of the former Realty Centre at 15 Enggor Street – adjacent to Anson House and two blocks north of the Keppel Viaduct. 

Hsteel holds 80 percent of New Vision, having paid S$140 million to acquire that stake in the company in 2023 from existing shareholders, The Place Holdings, an SGX-listed developer controlled by mainland born Ji Zenghe, MCC Land (a local developer controlled by the Metallurgical Corporation of China) and a private vehicle controlled by Ji. 

The Place Holdings and Ji’s Sun Card Ltd had acquired the Realty Centre through a 2019 collective sale, before Hsteel invested. Following that 2023 deal, The Place Holdings reportedly owned 10.2 percent of New Vision, MCC Land another 3.8 percent and Sun Card 3.8 percent.

In 2022, The Business Times reported that You’s Esteel Enterprise paid S$53.9 million to pick up the 28th and 29th floors of Springleaf Tower, adding to three storeys it already owned in the office project two blocks north of 15 Enggor Street. Several of You’s companies are said to be based in Springleaf Tower at this time.