Hongkong Land Holdings—controlled by the Keswick family’s Jardine Matheson Holdings—has bought a 10.8% in Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust, betting Singapore’s prime commercial properties will stay resilient despite the escalating conflict in the Middle East.The Singapore-listed builder acquired the stake from Warburg Pincus-backed ESR Group for S$541 million ($422 million) in cash, Hongkong Land said in a statement late Thursday. Rental income from Suntec REIT prime properties in the city-state will help diversify Hongkong Land’s earnings profile, it said.

“The acquisition enables Hongkong Land to deploy recently recycled capital into prime, income producing commercial assets predominantly located in Singapore,” Hongkong Land said in a statement. “This aligns with the Company’s positive outlook and conviction in Singapore’s prime commercial property market.”

Hongkong Land said its investment in Suntec REIT was at a discount to its independently appraised net asset value of S$2.03 per share at end-2025 and it recognizes the REIT’s strategic potential to unlock value across its portfolio and commitment to sustain long-term growth. Suntec REIT shares gained 2% at S$1.49 in Friday afternoon trading in Singapore.

There’s been a strong investor appetite for commercial properties in Singapore, which is among the world’s most expensive real estate markets. Investment volumes in Singapore hotels, offices and retail assets climbed 18% to S$33.9 billion in 2025, the highest in eight years, driven by lower interest rates in the Lion City, according to CBRE.Suntec REIT’s portfolio of office and retail assets across Singapore’s central business district includes a one-third stake in both Marina Bay Financial Centre (Towers 1 & 2) and One Raffles Quay. The Singapore Central Private Real Estate Fund, majority owned by Hongkong Land, also holds one-third stake in these assets.The investment in Suntec REIT follows two divestments last year that raised about S$2.2 billion for Hongkong Land amid a rebalancing of its portfolio. It sold its one-third stake in Singapore’s Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 3 to Temasek-backed Keppel REIT for S$1.5 billion in December after unloading residential property developer MCL Land in October to Malaysian billionaire Jeffrey Cheah's Sunway for nearly S$740 million.

Tang Organization—controlled by tycoon Gordon Tang and his wife Celina—is the biggest shareholder of Suntec REIT, holding a 36% stake and fully owns the REIT’s manager. The group plans a strategic review of Suntec REIT’s assets to strengthen portfolio performance and enhance capital efficiency. It also said it intends to pursue strategic initiatives to boost yield. The group attempted to take Suntec REIT private in 2024 but the offer was rejected by other shareholders.The Tangs have been stepping up investments in Singapore real estate in recent years. In 2022, Chip Eng Seng and a joint venture between SingHaiyi Group and Haiyi Holdings—which are both controlled by the couple—bought a 21% stake in the former Temasek Tower on the edge of the Raffles Place central business district. A 63-story skyscraper, which would be the tallest in the city-state when completed in 2028, is currently being constructed on the property by the Tang-backed companies and partners including e-commerce giant Alibaba and Perennial Holdings, which is owned by palm oil billionaire Kuok Khoon Hong with tycoons Ron Sim and Pua Seck Guan, CEO of Perennial.Hongkong Land has amassed over $50 billion in assets under management with flagship properties in Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Focusing on developing, owning and managing mixed-use real estate in Asian gateway cities from office, luxury retail, residential and hospitality assets. Its real estate footprint spans over 1.8 million square meters. The nearly two-century-old Hong Kong-headquartered Jardine Matheson is the flagship of the Keswick clan and is led by executive chairman and fifth-generation scion Ben Keswick. The group’s dealmaking spree in the past year helped to nearly double Jardine shares in the past year, boosting the family’s fortune to $4.6 billion.

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