DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA) director (investment advisory services) Tang Wei Leng, the woman who drove the brokering of over $3 billion worth

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung (SEA) director (investment advisory services) Tang Wei Leng, the woman who drove the brokering of over $3 billion worth of investment sales for the firm in Singapore so far this year, is leaving the company after 12 years to join Wachovia group of the US.

She will be director, real estate capital markets, based in Singapore with duties covering the region, BT understands.

Wachovia Corporation is a huge diversified financial services group in the US. Its real estate arm, Wachovia Development Corporation, has been in the news here lately, teaming up with Singapore-listed property giant CapitaLand to bid for residential sites here.

The duo have bid unsuccessfully for 99-year leasehold condo plots in Bishan and at Dakota Crescent in the Mountbatten area, over the past two weeks.

However, Wachovia could soon be involved in its first Singapore residential project. CapitaLand said earlier this week that the two parties are in talks for a 50-50 joint venture to develop the freehold Char Yong Gardens site that CapitaLand has clinched for $420 million or a record unit land price of $1,788 psf per plot ratio.

‘We are sorry to miss Wei Leng’s services but she is leaving to join a property investment group and we can still work together,’ DTZ’s chief executive Ho Tian Lam said yesterday when contacted by BT. He did not confirm where Ms Tang is heading.

Her last day with DTZ is tomorrow, after serving a three-month notice period. Taking over her responsibilities as head of investment advisory services for both Singapore and South-east Asia is DTZ’s auction director Shaun Poh, who is also a director in the investment advisory services department and has been working on several of the deals the firm has brokered.

The firm’s investment advisory department also includes three associate directors - Magdeline Goh, Swee Shou Fern and Anthony Seah. ‘We are also looking for one or two more directors or associate directors to boost the investment sales team in anticipation of more business coming our way,’ Mr Ho said.

He noted the strong flow of investment monies into the Asia-Pacific region from investors in Europe, US, India and Middle East, all looking for real estate deals in Singapore, often as a springboard for venturing into the region.

An example would be UK-based Develica group’s Asia-Pacific fund, which recently bought 1 Finlayson Green in a DTZ brokered deal.

Mr Ho himself is chairman of an investment committee - comprising senior executive directors such as Edmund Tie, who is also the firm’s executive chairman, Yam Kah Heng, Low Fatt Onn and Heng Hua Thong - with a deep network of contacts in the property industry.

The over $3 billion of investment sales deals DTZ has brokered in Singapore since the start of the year include the collective sales of Leedon Heights ($835 million), Gillman Heights ($548 million), Elmira Heights ($279 million), Himiko Court in the Mount Sinai area ($336 million) and 1 Finlayson Green (just under $231 million).

Ms Tang, 38, holds a BSc Honours (second upper) in Estate Management from National University of Singapore as well as an MBA from Imperial College, UK. She was formerly collector of land revenue at the Land Office and was with Jones Lang Wootton from 1993 to 1995 before moving to DTZ. Ms Tang has three young daughters.

Source: The Business Times, 14 June 2007