On 15 October 2026, Bloomberg reported two sets of talks over well-known Singapore buildings, one involving IOI Properties and the other Hongkong Land. IOI Properties, the Malaysian developer run by Lee Yeow Seng, is in exclusive talks to buy the CHIJMES retail and dining complex and the Capitol Kempinski hotel. Separately, Hongkong Land, a member of the Jardine Matheson group, is in early talks with Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL) about a majority stake in three buildings on Orchard Road. Neither is a signed deal.
Together they show two family-linked empires buying trophy property with different money. IOI bought first with debt and is now building a fund to pay it down. Hongkong Land set up a fund this year and now buys through it. Across the table, a founder’s company weighs selling control of its best site.
Lee Yeow Seng, the heir who buys first
Lee Yeow Seng, 47, is chief executive of IOI Properties Group, the property arm of the empire built by his late father, Lee Shin Cheng. Lee and his brother, Lee Yeow Chor, control both it and the plantation group IOI Corp, from which it was spun off in 2013, Reuters reported. In February 2026 Lee had a deemed interest of about 66% in IOI Properties, according to EdgeProp.
IOI bought City Developments’ 50.1% stake in the company that owns South Beach, taking full control. This year IOI also bought the Asia Square Tower 2 office building. Bloomberg puts IOI’s Singapore commercial portfolio at about S$10 billion.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, the Capitol Kempinski had been marketed for about S$600 million (US$468 million). CHIJMES, set in a former convent, was valued at S$379 million at the end of 2025. Lee declined to give a price. Perennial Holdings, a part-owner of both, did not respond.
IOI’s bill: debt first, a fund second
IOI’s net debt reached 85% of its equity at the end of June: for every S$100 of shareholders’ money, borrowings exceeded cash by about S$85. Lee aims for 30–50% within three to five years. “No one has asked me to slow down,” he told Bloomberg.
His tool is a private fund, due within about two months. IOI would put in two office assets, the office part of South Beach and IOI Central Boulevard Towers, worth about S$6 billion together, and sell about half of the fund to institutions. The terms, as described: a target internal rate of return (IRR, the annualised return over the investment’s life) of 10–11%, a minimum ticket of about S$500 million, a five- to seven-year lock-up, and eventually a listing as a real estate investment trust.
IOI stays a large owner of the buildings but turns about half of their value into cash, which pays down debt and makes room for the next purchase. (Our post on New World Development shows a family property group whose debt ran ahead of it.)
Shenton House: owner and company
One deal tests the line between Lee’s money and the company’s. According to IOI’s filing, as reported by EdgeProp, Lee’s private vehicle, Shenton 101, won the collective sale of Shenton House for S$538 million in November 2023 and completed in June 2024. Lee offered to transfer it to IOI, but in August 2024 the directors without a personal interest declined, citing heavy capital commitments.
On 1 October 2026, IOI changed its mind. It agreed to buy Shenton 101 for S$1, repay about S$217 million Lee had advanced to it, and take on about S$376 million of its borrowings. At 3.79% on Bursa Malaysia’s size test, below the 5% threshold, it needs no vote by other shareholders. Lee and his brother abstained, and IOI voluntarily appointed an independent adviser.
That is the textbook way to handle a related-party deal.
The Jardine way: fund first
Hongkong Land is controlled by Jardine Matheson, the conglomerate long associated with the Keswick family. In February 2026 it launched the Singapore Central Private Real Estate Fund with S$8.2 billion of assets, targeting about S$15 billion. Hongkong Land manages it and holds most of the units; other investors are unnamed.
Its first purchase, announced on 30 July, was Wheelock Place on Orchard Road, for about S$1.1 billion. The model pays twice: a share of the rent as main unitholder, and fees on outside investors’ money.
The HPL talks would go further. According to Bloomberg’s sources, Hongkong Land may buy a majority stake in the voco Orchard hotel, the Forum mall and HPL House, likely valuing them at over S$2 billion (US$1.6 billion), a figure subject to change. Both companies declined to comment.
The seller: Ong Beng Seng’s HPL
HPL was co-founded by Ong Beng Seng, who with his wife controlled about 60% of it in 2025, according to Bloomberg. The three sites have provisional approval for a mixed-use redevelopment of about 1.23 million sq ft. In July 2025, after Bloomberg reported talks to sell majority stakes in Forum and voco at a valuation of at least S$2 billion, HPL told the Singapore exchange there was “no certainty” of a deal. Back then, Bloomberg said HPL meant to keep HPL House. The new report includes it.
In August 2025, Ong pleaded guilty to abetting the obstruction of justice in a case linked to former transport minister S. Iswaran, and was fined S$30,000.
Selling a majority of a site while keeping a minority is a common middle path: the partner brings most of the capital and building risk, and the family keeps some upside.
A fair caveat
Both stories rest mainly on Bloomberg reporting, and the Hongkong Land account relies on anonymous sources. Prices are asking prices and valuations, not agreed terms. As of 18 October 2026, we found no deal announcement from the companies.
Five lessons to take away
- Debt buys speed, not permanence. IOI moved first and now plans to sell half of two big buildings into a fund.
- A fund shares value without giving everything up. Both buyers stay large owners while bringing in outside money.
- Keep personal and company deals apart. Directors without a personal interest decided on Shenton House.
- Warehousing an asset personally carries risk. Lee held the building privately for over two years.
- Selling a majority is not leaving. A partner can fund the redevelopment while the family keeps a stake.
Questions to bring to your advisors
If our family holds property through a company, how much debt is too much, and what would we sell first if lenders pushed? If a relative wants to buy personally an asset the company declined, who decides, and on what terms? These are questions to bring to your advisors, not advice.
