Poh Group founder sells Cassia Drive home for S$21.8m

Poh Group founder sells Cassia Drive home for S$21.8m

The price works out to S$1,969 psf on 11,073 sq ft of the freehold land area

Tue, Dec 10, 2019

KALPANA RASHIWALA


POH Group founder Poh Kay Ping is understood to be selling his home along Cassia Drive in the Raffles Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area for S$21.8 million.

The price works out to S$1,969 psf based on the freehold land area of 11,073 sq ft.

Completed a few years ago, the house has two levels, a basement and an attic. It comes with five bedrooms, a wine cellar and a pool.

The buyer is involved with a few businesses including food courts and coffee shops.

Realstar Premier is understood to have brokered the deal.

Poh Group is involved in resources and engineering among other businesses, according to information on its website. The group's mineral resource investments in Mongolia are held mainly under ASX-listed Tian Poh Resources and its subsidiary, Poh Golden Ger Resources.

Mr Poh began his career in family business Poh Tiong Choon Logistics and eventually became its deputy chief executive officer in 1996. In 1999, the company was listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange.

In 2010, Mr Poh stepped down from his post to focus on his own businesses under Poh Group.

(Poh Tiong Choon was delisted last year following a buyout offer in 2017 by a vehicle backed by the firm's chairman and Mr Poh's father, Poh Choon Ann, and Tower Capital.)

Including the latest transaction of the house at Cassia Drive, the year-to-date tally of transactions in GCB Areas has crossed S$700 million, based on URA Realis data. This figure excludes transactions for which buyers have not lodged caveats.

The over-S$700 million YTD tally includes the mortgagee sale by Deutsche Bank of a bungalow in Belmont Road for S$34.5 million, as reported by BT last month. The price translates to S$1,278 psf on the freehold land area of 27,000 sq ft; the property is ripe for redevelopment.

The registered owners of the property are the husband-and-wife team of David Chew and Leong Sook Ching, who used to control mainboard-listed The Stratech Group (currently under liquidation).

The buyer is Woo Tsung Chwen, a member of the Tay family behind the OG Department Stores group. Mr Woo, who is about 40 years old, used to be involved with the Butter Factory Group. He is now a shareholder in a range of businesses including property, car rentals and F&B operator Coterie Dining Concepts.

Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore, with strict planning conditions stipulated by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to preserve their exclusivity and low-rise character.