James Dyson taps top DBS banker Tan Su Shan to advise US$16 billion empire

JAMES Dyson named one of Singapore’s top bankers as a director for his business empire’s holding company, adding to the roster of high-profile individuals from the city-state involved in overseeing his assets.

Tan Su Shan, DBS’ group head of institutional banking, was appointed late last year to Weybourne Holdings, which also counts Singapore Airlines’ former chairperson and a member of the city’s richest families as directors. 

Weybourne oversees the British billionaire’s namesake maker of vacuum cleaners as well as his family office, whose investments span real estate, farming and venture capital. The Singapore-based company has received more than £2 billion (S$3.2 billion) in dividends and capital transfers from Dyson Holdings since 2019, when the entrepreneur said he was relocating his technology firm’s headquarters to Singapore from the UK, as indicated by data compiled by Bloomberg.

Tan declined to comment, and a DBS spokeswoman referred questions to Weybourne. A representative for Dyson in Singapore declined to confirm Tan’s role.

Dyson is the UK’s richest person with a US$15.9 billion net worth, as indicated by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and has built up investments outside his namesake firm over the past decade. The 75-year-old remains chief engineer of his technology business, which opened its new headquarters in Singapore last year.

Tan’s appointment is one of the most high-profile for Dyson’s holding company. The Oxford University graduate joined DBS in 2010 after working at Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. She leads the biggest business group at South-east Asia’s largest lender, after previously running its consumer banking and wealth-management operations.

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The head of Dyson’s family office, former British army officer James Bucknall, is listed as a Weybourne director along with Koh Boon Hwee, the former chairman of Singapore Airlines who also serves on the investment board of the city-state’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC. Kishin RK, one of Singapore’s leading landlords with his father Raj Kumar, and Andrew Lim, a partner at major law firm Allen & Gledhill, are directors of the holding company as well. BLOOMBERG