Tan Choon Siang will take over as chief executive of CICT on 1 May (Image: CapitaLand Investment)
CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust will have a new chief executive officer from 1 May as Southeast Asia’s largest real estate company continues to rejig its leadership structure.
The manager of Singapore’s largest real estate investment trust by market capitalisation on Monday said that it would be promoting Tan Choon Siang, who had been named deputy chief executive in January, to chief executive of the S$15.18 billion ($11.4 billion) REIT.
Now 48, Tan will be replacing Tony Tan (no relation), who will be stepping down to take on the role of chief corporate officer with CapitaLand Development, the privately held real estate development unit of Temasek Holdings-controlled CapitaLand Group.
“Choon Siang is responsible for leading the management team in driving CICT’s value creation and growth strategy as well as its operational performance,” the REIT manager said in a statement. “With more than 22 years of experience in financial management, investments, corporate finance, treasury and investment banking, Choon Siang brings a track record of driving strategic growth and value creation.”
Large Cap REIT, High Stakes Player
Before joining the leadership of the largest REIT managed by CapitaLand Investment earlier this year, Tan Choong Siang had served since November 2021 as chief executive of the company’s smallest listed trust, CapitaLand Malaysia Trust, which has a market capitalisation of MYR 1.9 billion ($428.5 million) according to CapitaLand’s website.
Tony Tan became head of CICT when it was formed in 2020 (Image: CapitaLand)
With a 26-property portfolio valued at $18.4 billion, according to its website, CICT holds some of CapitaLand Group’s best known assets. Focused in Singapore and Sydney, CICT owns major mixed-use projects such as CapitaSpring and Raffles City in Singapore as well as the Asia Square Tower 2, Capital Tower and CapitaSky office projects in its home city.
On the retail side the trust holds the Bugis Junction and Westgate malls in Singapore, while in Sydney it owns a trio of office projects. CICT also holds a pair of commercial properties in Frankfurt, Germany.
Having earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tan served stints with Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs before joining SGX-listed casino and resort operator Genting Singapore Ltd in 2011 as vice president for corporate finance. After closing on Friday a S$2.12 per unit, CICT’s stock has slipped just less than 2 percent to S$2.08 at market close on Wednesday.
In 2016 he joined Temasek-backed property firm Ascendas-Singbridge as head of corporate finance and treasury, and later was named chief financial officer of Ascendas India Trust. Tan took on his CapitaLand Malaysia Trust role two years after Ascendas-Singbridge was merged with CapitaLand in 2019.
Before entering the Temasek universe Tan was reported to be a competitive poker player, joining the 2015 Poker Stars tournament in Macau, where he won HK$130,800 ($16,835), as well as in the 2009 edition of the contest, according to industry website Pokernews.com.
Leadership Changes
Now 57, Tony Tan’s future role is currently held by Lorraine Ng, who had served as head of human resources and corporate social responsibility with CapitaLand Development before being named chief corporate officer in 2021. CapitaLand has not commented on Ng’s next steps. Tony Tan has served as chief executive of CICT since it was formed through the merger of CapitaLand Mall Trust and CapitaLand Commercial Trust in 2020, after previously working as CEO of CapitaLand Mall Trust since May 2017.
At the same time that it appointed Tan Choon Siang to the CICT leadership role in January, CapitaLand Investment appointed Yong Su-Lin as chief executive of CapitaLand Malaysia Trust, and appointed Yvonne Siew as managing director and head of product development and wealth markets with its private capital markets team as the group stepped up its fund raising efforts.
At the beginning of this year CapitaLand Investment had appointed former Apollo Global Management executive Suzanne Spells as general counsel to deliver legal and corporate secretariat services to its businesses.
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