These 3 Singaporean Single Family Offices Invest in Private Equity

One of the richest countries and cities in the world: Singapore. The smallest state in Southeast Asia, an island and city state, counts to the cities with the highest cost of living worldwide and is considered, together with Hong Kong, the most important financial center in Asia. Because of its significantly low tax rates and various other incentives, Singapore is commonly seen as tax haven. With a marginal rate of only 22% on personal income, resident taxpayers pay a progressive tax. As of the 2019 tax year, the highest tax bracket was defined as incomes above $320,000 U.S. dollars. Furthermore, Singapore does not tax on capital income offers tax exemptions for qualifying foreign banks, offshore funds, and global trading companies. Together with a location that makes it a gateway for companies hoping to expand into the emerging Asian economies, Singapore’s policy helped to become a global hub for international investment and commerce. This kind of environment attracts many single family offices, the private investment firms of the world’s most wealthiest individuals. We recently just released our database of the largest single family offices in Asia which also includes Singapore. If you’re interested only in Singaporean family offices you should definitely check out our database of the largest single family offices in Singapore. This article will focus on three family offices that have headquarters in Singapore and actively invest in private equity. In 2019, private equity and M&A activity in Singapore continued to thrive with a total deal value for the year of around $35 billion. This marks an increase by over 125% compared to the year before and shows how important Singapore’s private equity market is.

The mentioned family offices are all part of our list of the largest single family offices in Singapore

• 45 entries, thereof 30 with E-Mail address, 42 with executive names
• Investment focus: Real Estate, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Financial Products, Renewables
• 23 columns included: Name, Family Name, Estimated Family Wealth, Detailed Investment Focus and exemplary investments, address, phone, e-mail, website…
• Free updates within one year included, secure payment through PayPal or Credit Card, 24/7 support through live chat and mail

#1: Apricot Capital

Apricot Capital is the single family office of Singapore’s “instant coffee king” David Teo. In the late 80’s, when the clothing company of David Teo’s wife had just failed, he was looking for new business opportunities to help his wife. He had the idea that the always busy and stressed Singaporeans would be receptive to a new, faster and easier way to get their daily caffeine kicks, which turned out to be true. Some months later, his wife and two of her siblings were set up in a 2,000-square-foot instant-coffee packaging operation – the Super Group was incorporated. In the second year of business, sales reached $3 Million and Teo began to export to Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. Today Super is the second-biggest seller of instant coffee in Singapore and the number one seller in Myanmar, which is the company’s second-largest market. David Teo sold his company successfully for $1.45 billion which provided enough capital to found his investment office Apricot Capital. The family office actively invests in real estate, venture capital, private equity and funds. An exemplary private equity investment is Marco Polo Marine Ltd, an integrated marine logistic company with Offshore Supply Vessels as well as tugboats and barges which are being deployed in regional waters to its customers, especially in the offshore oil and gas, mining, commodities, construction and infrastructure sectors.

#2: AT Capital Group

AT Capital Group operates all the wealth management activities of Arvind Tiku, an Indian-born Singapore resident who has interests in oil & gas, property and renewable energy. He left India at age 18 to study mechanical engineering in Russia and worked as a commodities trader before getting into oil and gas in Kazakhstan. Arvind was previously a shareholder and director on the board of Nelson Resources Limited, an oil and gas company listed on the Toronto and London Stock Exchanges. He was the Managing Director for Central Asia at Marc Rich Investment AG where he established an international trading division for crude oil and oil products. From 1995 to 1999, Arvind served as founder and General Director for Agro Invest, a grain producing, storage and trading company based in Kazakhstan. According to Forbes, his net worth is estimated to be around $2 billion. His single family office, AT Capital Group, actively invests in real estate and private equity, where companies operating in the fields of renewable energy, oil & gas and logistics are targeted. An excerpt of the private equity portfolio: Nostrum Oil & Gas Plc, an independent oil and gas company engaging in the production, development and exploration of oil and gas in the pre-Caspian Basin. The portfolio also includes Mercury Service Company LLP, a company engaged in providing services to the railway industry. Its subsidiary, TEK-Kazakhstan, has a network of 53 storage facilities strategically located in various regions of Kazakhstan. These facilities service the national railway company Kazakhstan TemirZholy. In addition, the company owns 2,750 railcars leased to various companies

#3: Enspire Capital

Enspire Capital serves as the private investment family office of Chay Kwong Soon and was founded in 1997. Chay Kwong Soon made most of his fortune through Creative Technology Limited which he co-founded with Sim Wong Hoo in 1981. The company got successful through the development of modern sound cards, although the product range has recently become increasingly diversified. Today, loudspeakers, MP3 players, webcams and other accessories are also produced. Chay Kwong Soon pushed Creative’s growth massively and built up marketing facilities in Asia, Europe and Latin America, and manufacturing operations in Singapore, Malaysia, United States and Ireland. With his help, the company’s sales grew from $5 million to $1.2 billion (1988 – 1996). During that intense time, Chay got in touch with many different companies and startups from various industries, which inspired him to found Enspire Capital in 1997. The single family office The single family office focuses on private equity and venture capital transactions in the technology, media telecommunication, internet, mobile and software sectors and invests directly or via funds. The private equity portfolio includes, for example, FocalTech. The company focuses on the design, production, and sales of LCD drivers and mutual-capacitive touchpanel controllers. Another example is A10 Networks, which provides computer networking products and security solutions. The company offers controller, firewall, hardware appliances, protection systems, and other networking products.

Picture source: Kirill Petropavlov

You might also like these articles:

• Singapore Family Office Acquires Munich Office Building For €350M
• Allen Single Family Office Will Invest $100M In Singapore And Southeast Asia
• Singapore Sassoon Single Family Office Targets Venture Lending in Asia

Relevant Lists: