Galven Tan’s transition from investment broker to Knight Frank Singapore’s CEO
By Cecilia Chow
/ EdgeProp Singapore |
Tan aspires to “bring [Knight Frank Singapore] to the level where it can be the go-to consultants for clients and compete for neck and neck with the other international property consultancies” (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
On the morning of Feb 19, when Galven Tan strode into Knight Frank Singapore’s headquarters on the eighth floor of Ocean Financial Centre at Collyer Quay, it was as the CEO of the real estate consultancy. All the staff were gathered for a town hall meeting. “It was my first day at work, and 110 people were sitting in front of me, so I was a bit nervous,” he says jokingly.
That was three months ago. Tan has since settled into his new role at the storied 84-year-old company, one of Singapore’s oldest real estate consultancies. He intends to bolster the agency business, which includes auctions, capital markets, office leasing, retail leasing, industrial services, prime residential sales and leasing and private office. “I feel there are opportunities for these areas to expand,” he adds.
He concedes that finding talent with the right fit is always a challenge. It involves hiring existing talent from rival firms or grooming internal staff to become new leaders. “It can’t be done overnight,” says Tan.
An example is the CEO position, which took almost 11⁄2 years to fill after the departure of Knight Frank’s former group managing director, Wendy Tang, on June 2, 2022.
Danny Yeo, executive chairman of Knight Frank Singapore, says the firm had embarked on “a worldwide search for a Knight Frank Singapore CEO”. It took slightly longer than usual as there were “several worthy and highly qualified individuals to consider”, he adds. “Finally, we selected Galven [Tan] based on his strong credentials and our belief in his leadership ability to steward the Singapore team.”
Yeo: We embarked on a worldwide search for a Knight Frank Singapore CEO, which took slightly longer than usual as there were several worthy, highly qualified individuals to consider. Finally, we selected Galven based on his strong credentials and our belief in his leadership ability to steward the Singapore team (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
A matter of timing
Before he joined Knight Frank Singapore, Tan spent 20 years as an investment broker. His first 15 years were spent with CBRE, where he was executive director of investment, working closely with Jeremy Lake, the former head of investment for CBRE Singapore.
When Lake decamped for Savills Singapore in November 2019, Tan joined him. At Savills, Lake assumed the position of managing director for investment sales and capital markets, while Tan became deputy managing director of investment sales and capital markets. Two other former colleagues from CBRE followed them to Savills’ investment sales and capital markets team, namely Yap Hui Yee, now executive director and Sophia Lim, director.
“When we crossed over to Savills from CBRE in 2019, it had been a great year,” recounts Tan. “But due to Covid-19 in early 2020, there was little activity, and it was a stressful time for everyone.”
Tan believes that timing will never be perfect. “You just have to do your best to build from there; just be present and stay relevant,” he says.
Tan brokered the sale of two plots of 22 houses on either side of Thiam Siew Avenue for $815 million in November 2021 to the joint venture between Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Top investment broker
Still, he notched several sizeable deals in his four years at Savills. In September 2021, Savills brokered the en bloc sale of the former Flynn Park condo in Pasir Panjang for $371 million. It was followed by the sale of two land parcels flanking Thiam Siew Avenue for $815 million. The joint venture between Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments purchased both sites, launching the former Flynn Park condo as the 270-unit Terra Hill and the former Thiam Siew Avenue as the 816-unit The Continuum.
Tan was also involved in the collective sale of Tanglin Shopping Centre for $868 million to the Tanoto family’s Singapore-based property development and investment firm, Pacific Eagle Real Estate, in February 2022. He brokered the sale of four levels at Solitaire on Cecil, a strata-titled office tower jointly developed by LaSalle Investment Managers and TE Capital Partners. Besides the seventh floor, which was sold for $50.483 million ($4,050 psf), Tan brokered the sale of the 17th, 18th and 20th floors to a single buyer for $162.8 million ($4,300 psf) in April 2023.
While at Savills, Tan had participated in an offshore deal, namely the divestment of a freehold site at Shirokane, Tokyo, by Singapore-listed property group City Developments. The sale took place in 3Q2023 for JPY 50 billion ($495 million). “We introduced CDL to our Savills colleagues in Japan and worked together with them on the sale, but I won’t claim that I found the buyer,” he says.
He could have continued as a top investment broker, having concluded $15 billion in deals over the past 15 years. “It still excites me,” Tan admits. Throughout his career, he had often been asked if he would consider embarking on something else, perhaps leading a team or starting his own business. “When you’re entrenched in your work, you don’t think of such things.”
The former Flynn Park condo in Pasir Panjang was purchased en bloc by Hoi Hup Realty and Sunway Developments for $371 million in September 2021 (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
‘Player-manager role’
However, when the Knight Frank Singapore CEO position emerged, Tan felt it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. “If I didn’t try it now, another opportunity like this may not come by until years later.”
He adds that the opportunity to assume a “player-manager role” later on, excited him too. The last three months have been spent learning about Knight Frank Singapore’s various businesses and getting to know the different teams. Besides the agency business, Knight Frank Singapore has an advisory business, including its consultancy arm, which is led by Alice Tan and its research arm, under Leonard Tay.
Low Kin Hon, the deputy CEO, is also the head of valuation and advisory services. The valuation team is said to have done at least 3,400 valuations for commercial and residential assets worth $100 billion to date.
The auction team headed by Sharon Lee is also strong, says Tan. “We are constantly reviewing to see if there’s a better way to conduct auctions,” he adds. “And you can auction anything, not just real estate.”
Knight Frank Strata Management is the property manager for the Ardmore series: Ardmore Park (pictured right), Ardmore II and Ardmore Three (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
Property management business
Knight Frank also has a strong property management business led by Eleana Teo, head of strata management and Peter Tan, head of facilities management. The property management business has 120 staff at Orion @ Paya Lebar.
The facilities management arm manages the common areas at the 117 ha Sentosa Cove luxury waterfront enclave and a portfolio of 1,400 properties under the Singapore Land Authority, including the black-and-white colonial houses. It is also the facilities manager for an assortment of retail, commercial and industrial buildings. Altogether, it manages 2,800 properties with an aggregate of 27 million sq ft of real estate space across Singapore, with an annual rent roll of about $185 million.
Under the strata management business are about 164 properties with 53,000 strata units, many of which are luxury condos in the prime districts, such as the 330-unit Ardmore Park, the 118-unit Ardmore II and the 84-unit Ardmore Three, the 100-unit Nassim Park Residences, the 462-unit OUE Twin Peaks and the 181-unit Wallich Residence. It also manages the 1,715-unit D’Leedon, the 86-unit Beverly Hills and the 210-unit Goodwood Residence.
Mixed-use developments it manages include 111 Somerset, Sengkang Grand, Lumiere and Havelock II.
Including the on-site staff at the various projects under the property management business, Knight Frank Singapore has 780 staff.
Nassim Park Residences is another condo managed by Knight Frank Strata Management (Photo: Samuel Isaac Chua/EdgeProp Singapore)
People and tech
Knight Frank Singapore’s residential businesses — prime residential sales and leasing, international residential marketing and private office —are led by Nicholas Keong.
The capital markets business has two heads: Daniel Ding, the head of land and building and international real estate and Chia Mein Mein, head of land and collective sale. Meanwhile, Mary Sai is a veteran and executive director of capital markets at Knight Frank Singapore.
Knight Frank Asia Pacific occupies the office adjacent to Knight Frank Singapore’s at Ocean Financial Centre. The APAC team has about 40 people.
Knight Frank Singapore is one of the few full-fledged property consultancies that still has a real estate agency arm. Named KF Property Network, it is headed by Evan Chung and has close to 280 licenced realtors. KF Property Network is now ranked sixth in terms of its sales force, with PropNex, ERA Realty, Huttons Asia, OrangeTee & Tie and SRI occupying the top five slots.
“In the agency business, the strength is in its numbers,” says Tan. “It is one part of the business where I’m in the midst of rethinking its strategy.”
Technology is another critical area that Tan intends to focus on, as it has altered the traditional way the real estate business is conducted. “We have to think of new ways of investing in tech,” he adds. “But it’s not cheap and gets outdated very quickly.”
Therefore, he is evaluating the best way to use tech to improve the user experience with clients and create efficiencies across the various teams. Still, tech should not replace brokers, he says. “Real estate is a people-centric business and we need a strong team on the ground to meet clients and to be the go-to consultants.”
Nassim Mansion, another luxury condo managed by Knight Frank Strata Management (Photo: The Edge Singapore)
Competing with other international property consultancies
Tan appreciates Knight Frank Singapore’s long history. Founded in 1940 as Cheong Hock Chye, it was renamed Cheong Hock Chye & Co. In 1983, the firm merged with Knight Frank to form Knight Frank Cheong Hock Chye & Baillieu. The name was shortened to Knight Frank Singapore in 1996.
Knight Frank Singapore was 55%-owned by the seven partners and shareholders of Cheong Hock Chye & Co. and 45% by Knight Frank in the UK. In 2011, the seven shareholders of Cheong Hock Chye & Co. sold their shares to former Singapore-listed hospitality and investment company LCD Global Investments.
In 2015, AF Global, a joint venture between listed jewellery retailer-turned-proper- ty developer Aspial Corp and property group Fragrance Group, controlled by brothers Koh Wee Seng and James Koh Wee Meng, respectively, made a general offer for LCD Global with a bid of $313.8 million. In April 2016, LCD Global was renamed AF Global, and the firm continues to hold a 55% stake in Knight Frank Singapore.
Knight Frank’s UK parent retains a 45% stake in the Singapore business. The group intends to grow the Singapore business as it views the city-state as an important region- al hub, says Tan. “Knight Frank is a well-regarded name in Singapore, too.”
And now, as the CEO of Knight Frank Singapore, Tan aspires to “bring [the firm] to the level where it can be the go-to consultant for clients and compete neck and neck with the other international property consultancies,” he says. Is it a tall order? Only time will tell.
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