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Published September 20, 2007

Lehman moves global property unit to S'pore

Bank to jointly invest $450m with Kajima in CBD office building

By UMA SHANKARI

US investment bank Lehman Brothers has moved the base for the South-east Asian operations of its global real estate group from Bangkok to Singapore, it said yesterday.

The group has of late been beefing up its presence here, said Blake Olafson, senior vice-president of Lehman's global real estate group.

Total staff count here has increased from about 30 to more than 200 now and the bank has also expanded its office space from half a floor at Suntec City to one-and-a-half floors, Mr Olafson said.

'The missing link was the real estate guys,' he said. 'To run the business out of Singapore is very, very easy.'

The real estate unit intends to double its team to 12 members from 6-7 at present, he added.

Mr Olafson was speaking to reporters at a press conference yesterday, where Lehman announced that it will jointly invest some $450 million with Japan's Kajima Corporation to build an office building in Singapore's central business district (CBD). The partners have a 50:50 stake in the project.

The 15-storey building would be Lehman's first direct property investment in Singapore. When completed in mid-2009, it will offer some 280,000 sq ft of office space.

Lehman's real estate unit is looking for more investment opportunities in Singapore in both the residential and commercial sectors, Mr Olafson said.

The group also intends to grow its property investments in Malaysia and Indonesia out of Singapore.

So far, the unit has made about US$11 billion worth of direct property investments since 2001, but currently holds around US$7.3 billion in assets - having securitised or sold off the rest.

Going forward, the group will continue to maintain investments at around the same amount, Mr Olafson said.