TEHO International on Thursday signed a non-binding letter of intent with Eric Cheng and three other vendors to acquire a full stake in ECG Property Services for S$17 million.

If this goes through, it will be the marine and offshore oil and gas firm's second property-related acquisition, following its purchase of boutique property developer TIEC Holdings for S$12.3 million in May. TIEC was also majority-owned by Mr Cheng.

Teho's acquisition of ECG comes at a time when property agencies are struggling to survive a sluggish real estate market. Several have since teamed up to combine their salesforce.