Singapore lures new wave of Chinese investors eyeing good schools, stability

The city has tightened its Global Investor Programme rules over the years, such as requiring applicants to manage firms with revenues of S$200 million, but interest continues to be strong

China’s Covid-19 situation and instability in Hong Kong have influenced their decisions, while asset manager Blackrock’s impending expansion in Singapore has further buoyed confidence

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The Global Investor Programme gives permanent residency to those who qualify. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 8:30am, 26 Jun 2022Updated: 2:33pm, 27 Jun 2022

Luxury property purchases by Chinese buyers have long made headlines in Singapore, but quietly, Chinese money has also been flowing into the city state’s many fund management companies.

Back in 2004, Grace Tang, executive director at Phillip Private Equity, used to go to China to woo investors for her company’s fund catered to those who were seeking to be part of Singapore’s Global Investor Programme. The programme was launched that year to draw entrepreneurs into Singapore, giving permanent residency to those who qualify.

The bar then was low: just S$1.5 million (US$1.08 million) in investments. They could spend the sum on setting up a business in Singapore, put it into a GIP fund, or spend S$1 million on property and the rest into a fund.

The criteria have since been tightened. Home purchases no longer count towards the investment quantum, which has been raised to S$2.5 million, and the revenue of the company the applicant manages must be at least S$200 million.

Still, interest from Chinese investors have only grown stronger. Tang no longer has to promote the GIP programme in China – the applicants already know about the scheme.

Singapore authorities in 2020 expanded the scheme to next-generation business owners, the founders of fast-growing companies, and family office principals. Latest figures on successful applications are not publicly available.

Interest from Chinese investors in Singapore’s GIP has grown over the years. Photo: Getty Images

According to a May report in Singapore’s Business Times, the government had previously disclosed that 1,800 people were granted permanent residency under the scheme as of mid-2017, with S$1.8 billion yielded in business spending from 2011 to 2016.