Temasek, JTC join hands to create urban development giant

Singapore

MONTHS of exclusive talks on merging four of Singapore's leading players in urban planning and development have concluded with Temasek Holdings and JTC Corporation inking a pact to seal that commitment.

This transaction will see JTC's Ascendas and Jurong International Holdings (JIH) and Temasek's Singbridge Group and Surbana International Consultants Holdings morph into an integrated urban solutions platform.

This merged group, a 51-49 partnership between Temasek and JTC with an aggregate value of S$5 billion based on its underlying entities, is eyeing urbanisation projects in emerging markets.

As expected, the group will have two independent operating arms. An asset investment and holding arm will be formed by Ascendas and Singbridge; Surbana and JIH will form the building and engineering specialist services unit. But instead of having one chairman for the two entities as widely expected by market players, the two entities will have separate chairmen. The Ascendas-Singbridge unit will be chaired by Wong Kan Seng, current chairman of Singbr…