Veteran JLL Singapore dealmaker Tan Hong Boon quits capital markets team
He has since established his own company, AlpsEdge Real Estate, where he is executive director alongside his business partner Carin Puah, who has also left JLL Singapore's capital markets team where she was a senior director.
Tan told The Business Times that he has departed JLL to explore new ventures and further his personal development.
AlpsEdge is a boutique real estate consultancy that focuses on capital markets deals, investment grade properties, development land and collective sales.
Tan's real estate career began in 1989 at the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore's Chief Valuer's Office. He later joined Debenham International as senior manager for consultancy and regional valuations, covering markets in China, Indo-China and Indonesia, before moving to Knight Frank in 1996. At Knight Frank, he held roles in research and consultancy, and investment sales over eight years.
In 2004, Tan became deputy managing director at property advisory firm Credo Real Estate Singapore, which was acquired by JLL in 2012. He then served nearly 13 years with JLL, including a secondment to Kuala Lumpur from 2015 to 2016 to build its research, consultancy and capital markets functions.
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During his tenure, JLL Singapore's capital markets team brokered several high-profile collective sale transactions.
These include the 2018 sale of Landmark Tower, a leasehold 139-unit development at Chin Swee Road, to a joint venture company for S$286 million.
He also handled the sale of Watten Estate Condominium in 2021 to UOL Group and Singapore Land Group for S$550.8 million. It is now the site of a new freehold condo project Watten House.
That same year, Tan oversaw the collective sale of shopping mall Peace Centre and adjoining apartment complex Peace Mansion. The mixed-use property on Sophia Road was sold for S$650 million to a joint venture comprising CEL Development, Sing-Haiyi Crystal and Ultra Infinity.
In 2023, he handled the sale of Bagnall Court, a 43-unit condominium on Upper East Coast Road, which was purchased by a consortium of undisclosed buyers for S$115.3 million. Later in the year, Tan also brokered the sale of Shenton House to Lee Yeow Seng of Malaysia's IOI Properties Group for S$538 million.
JLL's Singapore capital markets team is headed by Lim Ting, who was promoted to the role in 2019. According to a JLL statement at the time, Lim took over a team of 21 professionals providing investment services to pension funds, developers, major corporates, sovereign wealth funds, and international investment managers. Lim reports to JLL's head of Asia Pacific capital markets, Stuart Crow.
Tan and Puah's recent departures follow in the wake of other senior exits at JLL. Singapore country head Chris Archibold left the firm earlier this year after a 21-year career with JLL Singapore. He was named country head in January 2021 after leading the firm's office leasing business for 14 years.
In 2024, JLL announced the departure of its Singapore-based Asia-Pacific CEO Anthony Couse in September, while JLL South-east Asia chief executive Chris Fossick stepped down in January.
According to real estate platform Mingtiandi, the changes at the top came after a corporate transformation programme launched in 2019 saw JLL shifting decision-making responsibilities to leaders of its business lines.
Several other real estate firms have also seen movements in the past year.
In 2024, Melvin Chay joined Knight Frank Singapore as a senior director from Colliers, where he was the director of international capital for Asia-Pacific for about three years. At Colliers, he conducted cross-border sourcing for direct and indirect real estate opportunities across all sectors, including platform and operators raising debt and equity.
More recently, Colliers Apac head of capital markets Chris Pilgrim left the firm. He joined Colliers in 2021 as director for global capital markets based in London, and became managing director of global capital markets for Apac in early 2023, based in Singapore.
Pilgrim has since joined UK real estate company Avison Young as its principal, managing director and UK head of capital markets.
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