The wife of Grab Holdings chief executive officer Anthony Tan paid S$40 million (US$29.6 million) for a mansion in Singapore, adding to the strong demand for posh homes as a safe haven investment amid the pandemic.
Chloe Tong, the daughter of The Edge Media Group owner Tong Kooi Ong in Malaysia, bought the bungalow from an unnamed doctor, the Business Times reported on Friday. The property, found near the Botanic Gardens and upscale Bukit Timah area in central Singapore, is expected to be redeveloped.
News of Tong's purchase comes as her husband is likely to see his net worth surge once ride-hailing and food delivery giant Grab goes public in the U.S. through a SPAC deal later this year. Tan, who will hold a 2.2 per cent stake in Grab after the deal, could see his fortune go to US$829 million.
This property is one of about 2,500 lavish homes found in Singapore where 80 per cent of the population live in public housing. The Business Times said the property had a land area equivalent to about 2,010 square meters (21,635 square feet), well above the 1,400 square meters standard for these houses.
Such homes are known as "good class bungalows" and remain an attraction for the super-rich on expectations that prices will rise further even after the pandemic, with some sales breaking records. Last week, the founder of Singapore-based Secretlab bought a S$36 million bungalow in the exclusive Caldecott Hill area, along with a penthouse. - Bloomberg