Tang Family Completes Manager Buyout, Becomes Sponsor of ARA US Hospitality Trust

Mysterious mainland investor Gordon Tang and wife Celine have completed their takeover of ARA US Hospitality Trust’s managers, with the family upping its stake to become the largest unit-holder and sponsor of the Singapore-listed hotel REIT.

Acrophyte Pte, which was known as Chip Eng Seng until the Tangs privatised the company last year, on Tuesday completed the acquisition of a 100 percent stake in each of the two companies that manage the REIT and its $700 million portfolio of US hotels, according to outgoing sponsor ARA Asset Management, a unit of ESR. No deal value was disclosed.

Acrophyte Ltd, an entity owned by the couple’s children, Tang Jialei and Tang Jialin, concurrently completed its purchase of 110.2 million stapled securities, or an additional 19 percent interest held by ARA Asset Management, at $0.31 each, the company said in a release. As a result, the Tang Group’s interest in the REIT has more than tripled to 28.3 percent.

“We are thrilled to embark on this new chapter with Acrophyte as ARA H-Trust’s sponsor,” said the REIT’s CEO, Lee Jin Yong. “We are pleased that Acrophyte and the Tang Group share our confidence in the strong value proposition and growth potential of ARA H-Trust’s portfolio.”

Leveraging Expertise

ARA H-Trust will continue to be listed on the Singapore Exchange, where the REIT’s units closed Wednesday at $0.28 each, in line with the trading price immediately after the buyout deal was announced in May.

The trust has a portfolio of 35 select-service hotels with 4,573 rooms operating under brands including Hyatt, Marriott and Hilton. Among its most valuable properties are the 135-key AC by Marriott Raleigh North Hills in North Carolina and the 150-room Hyatt House Boston Burlington in Massachusetts.

The REIT announced in early May that it had agreed to sell two Hyatt-branded hotels for $31 million, with that deal expected to trim its holdings to 33 properties worth over $700 million.

“We intend to leverage upon our extensive expertise in the hospitality sector to facilitate meaningful long-term, sustainable value for the ARA H-Trust’s stapled securityholders,” Acrophyte CEO Raymond Chia said in Tuesday’s announcement.

Clan’s Latest Milestone

The acquisition of ARA H-Trust’s managers and sponsorship continues a streak of takeovers by the Tang family, the source of whose wealth has never been made public, with published accounts indicating that the couple have extensive dealings with the family of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

With the Tang family also ranking as the largest unit-holder in SGX-listed Suntec REIT, the ARA H-Trust deal comes after the clan completed the S$589 million (then $440 million) privatisation of Chip Eng Seng in April 2023.

The deal for that builder followed the Tangs’ S$493 million privatisation of developer SingHaiyi in January 2022.

The Tangs and their network of companies have also been active at the project level in Singapore, including taking a 21 percent stake during 2022 in the S$1.7 billion redevelopment of 8 Shenton Way in Tanjong Pagar through Chip Eng Seng, SingHaiyi and Haiyi Holdings. In June of that year, SingHaiyi entered the top bid to acquire a residential plot along Katong’s Dunman Road via a public tender for S$1.28 billion.

Note: An earlier version of this article misattributed SingHaiyi’s Dunman Road acquisition to a joint venture. Mingtiandi regrets the error, which has been corrected.