Four others held shovels alongside Tan: the chairman of the main contractor behind the ongoing construction, Ascott’s chief design and technical officer, the managing director of New Vision, and Kwek Leng Peck, executive chairman of Hong Leong Asia.
The latter two executives hold clues to the relatively unknown New Vision, which was incorporated in April 2019.
That same month, Mainboard-listed The Place Holdings purchased the freehold 12-storey Realty Centre office building for $148 million in a commercial en bloc sale, outlining plans to build a mixed-use commercial and residential tower on the site.
See also: New Vision Holding, Ascott Limited break ground on Ascott Shenton Way Singapore
The Place claims to be involved in property development, property management and media and event management services in China and Singapore. In recent years, the company has come under scrutiny for flouting Singapore Exchange (SGX) rules.
The Place’s last annual report was for 2022. It last held an annual general meeting (AGM) on April 25, 2023 for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022. SGX has been seeking answers for The Place’s rule-breaking — even threatening “disciplinary action”, according to a Dec 11, 2025 notice of compliance — but the company remains listed.
Shares in the penny stock have traded between 0.2 and 0.4 cents over the past year, compared to an all-time high of 34.5 cents in May 2006.
See also: Amid $100 bil construction boom, SGX’s steel sector buzzes with acquisitions and family fights
How are The Place and New Vision related? In response to City & Country, New Vision managing director Tong Yan says The Place “was our minor investor”, but the two entities are no longer linked.
In fact, Tong says New Vision “bought the land from” The Place — referring to 15 Enggor Street.
New Vision made its first appearance in The Place’s 2019 annual report. The Place’s wholly owned subsidiary The Place Yuntai Investment incorporated New Vision on April 18, 2019, holding a 51% stake. Sun Card Limited, “a company in which certain directors of the company have controlling interests”, held the remaining 49% stake in New Vision.
The Realty Centre en bloc sale was announced the following week.
Following an internal restructuring on Dec 4, 2020, The Place Yuntai Investment transferred its entire 51% interest in New Vision to The Place Singapore Investment, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Place. The 2020 annual report also names New Vision as the “purchaser of Realty Centre”.
Links to Esteel, Green Steel, BRC Asia
See also: The Place Holdings back in black with net profit of $2.96 mil for FY2023
New Vision does not have a website; it also does not have a page on LinkedIn. On Tong’s LinkedIn page, the managing director of New Vision lists herself as having started the role in October 2023. Interestingly, she adds that she is “self-employed” in this position.
According to her LinkedIn page, Tong has held various commodity trading roles in Shanghai, the US, Hong Kong and Singapore. She was previously deputy general manager of “SG International Trade Co” at Jiangsu Shagang Co. in China, where — between April 2022 and April 2023 — where she oversaw the import of raw materials for steel manufacturing.
At an extraordinary general meeting in February 2024, The Place shareholders approved the issuance of 12 million new shares in New Vision to Hsteel, which was admitted as the new majority shareholder.
Hsteel paid $12 million for the shares and extended an “interest-free shareholder’s loan” of $128 million to New Vision. Rajah & Tann Singapore partners Danny Lim and Cynthia Wu advised on the $140 million investment.
The investment by Hsteel, wholly owned by You Zhenhua, was said to give The Place “an opportunity to participate in the potential upside in the redevelopment of [15 Enggor Street] through its existing investment in New Vision”.
Note, however, that The Place and New Vision are no longer linked, according to Tong.
On Dec 11, 2025, The Place announced in a bourse filing its proposed divestment of all its shares in New Vision.
“After evaluating the market dynamics and regulatory constraints, New Vision adopted the business model of hospitality use, specifically serviced apartments and hotel rooms,” reads The Place’s bourse filing. “Following the review of the redevelopment project’s financial projections, the company recognises the strong groundwork laid by New Vision but the investment nature entails [a] longer-term payback period as compared to strata-sale developments and hence, the redevelopment project no longer meets the company’s investment objectives.”
Speaking to the media after the Jan 26 groundbreaking ceremony, Tong revealed that You is her husband.
“We are very new to the industry, but obviously we have extensive experience as hotel guests ourselves — when we go on business trips, we stay in different hotels,” says Tong. “So we ourselves truly understand what guests really want from [a] hotel or service department. My team, the younger generation, we’ve had a lot of conversations about what they want as guests.”
You, an enigmatic figure who has stayed out of the media spotlight, is a major investor in the steel industry. He holds controlling interests in Green Esteel and Singapore-listed firms HG Metal Manufacturing and BRC Asia.
Green Esteel primarily trades iron ore and hot briquetted iron. In December 2025, OCBC’s Mezzanine Capital unit made an equity investment in Green Esteel’s low-carbon steel plant in Sabah, described as the largest of its kind in Southeast Asia. The next-largest shareholder in BRC Asia is Hong Leong Asia.
In 2024, Green Esteel became the controlling shareholder of Malaysia’s Southern Steel Bhd. In April 2025, BRC Asia acquired a 55% stake in Southern Steel Bhd’s steel wire mesh-making unit Southern Steel Mesh.
This draws a link back to Kwek, who was present at the groundbreaking ceremony on Jan 26. Kwek, executive chairman of Hong Leong Asia, is the son of Kwek Hong Leong — who is the brother of Kwek Hong Png, father of Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of City Developments.
Photos: Albert Chua/The Edge Singapore
See also:
- New Vision Holding, Ascott Limited break ground on Ascott Shenton Way Singapore
- Amid $100 bil construction boom, SGX’s steel sector buzzes with acquisitions and family fights
- The Place Holdings back in black with net profit of $2.96 mil for FY2023
- BRC Asia enters share purchase agreement to acquire controlling stake in Southern Steel Mesh for RM61.1 mil
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