Is this the house that Jack Ma is building in Singapore?

Tue, Jul 30, 2019

KALPANA RASHIWALA



THE fraternity of Alibaba cofounders continues to grow its presence in Singapore's high-end residential sector.

According to the grapevine, an entity linked to Alibaba Group Holding chairman and co-founder Jack Ma is developing a two-storey bungalow with a basement and swimming pool in the Victoria Park Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area.

The house is being built on a nearly 30,000 sq ft, elevated and regular-shaped 999-year leasehold site in Victoria Park Close.

A two-decade old bungalow that used to be on the site was sold for S$40 million back in 2017. It has since been pulled down.

The site, now being redeveloped, stands behind hoarding. The new bungalow being built there is slated for completion in the fourth quarter of next year, going by information on a signboard at the site.

The signboard lists the design architect as Hong Kong-based Philip Liao and Partners, along with other consultants, but information on the property owner is missing.

The transaction was previously reported by The Business Times back in 2017, but the buyer's identity had been somewhat of a mystery. The buyer name listed in the caveat is UBS Trustees (Singapore) Ltd, for the purchase of the property as trustee of The Victoria Park Settlement.

The property was sold by divorced doctor couple Gordon Lim and Yvonne Kwee, as well as Dr Kwee's mother.

A buyer may use a trust structure to buy a property for legacy planning, for instance. This is when a property is bought with the aim of passing it down to a beneficiary who has not yet come of legal age for property ownership.

Using a trust structure to buy a property could also stem from the buyer wanting to keep his or her identity under wraps.

Under the Residential Property Act, a foreigner who wishes to purchase a landed residential property in Singapore must seek approval from the authorities.

A spokesman for the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), contacted by BT, said: "If a property is purchased under a trust arrangement, the party lodging the transfer (for the purchase of the property) is required to state the details of the beneficiaries."

Checks by BT suggested that the purchase of the Victoria Park Close property did not require approval from the authorities, which points to the beneficiary of the trust likely being a Singapore citizen.

Mr Ma's wife, Zhang Ying, is believed to be a Singapore citizen.

BT Weekend reported recently that Alibaba co-founder James Sheng, who is also known as Sheng Yifei, bought a bungalow in Leedon Park, also a GCB Area, last year for S$50 million. He is a Singapore citizen.

In 2015, Sun Tongyu, also known as Toto Sun, acquired the sole penthouse at Le Nouvel Ardmore, developed by Wing Tai, for S$51 million. At the time, it was a record absolute price for a Singapore penthouse.

The deal translated to S$3,757 psf on the 13,573 sq ft strata area spread over the top two levels of the 33-storey freehold project. Mr Sun, formerly president of Alibaba Group's consumer-focused e-commerce site Taobao, is married to fellow Alibaba co-founder Lucy Peng.

While anyone can buy a non-landed private home in Singapore, one generally has to be a Singapore citizen to be allowed to buy a landed property in a GCB Area.

In the past seven years, seven Singapore permanent residents who have made exceptional economic contributions to the Republic have been granted approval to buy a landed residential property in a GCB Area. Of these, four involved properties more than 15,000 sq ft in land area, said SLA's spokesman.

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

Alibaba has a sizeable business presence in Singapore, with a headcount of a few thousand. Business units in the Alibaba Ecoystem with a presence here include Chinese-language retail website TMall, Alibaba Cloud, Alipay, Lazada, RedMart and the Alibaba Academy for Discovery, Adventure, Momentum and Outlook (DAMO).