Indonesian tycoon Sukanto Tanoto’s eldest son buying Singapore retail assets: sources
Private vehicle linked to Andre Tanoto said to have picked up Lian Beng’s four big HDB units, is in due diligence for i12 Katong and batch of 11 retail units put on the market by Mercatus
[SINGAPORE] A new private investment vehicle said to be backed by Andre Tanoto has been quietly acquiring retail assets in recent months.
The vehicle, associated with Altallo Asset Management, is said to have completed in December the purchase of four large-format Housing & Development Board (HDB) retail units in Bukit Merah Central and near the Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio and Clementi MRT stations. The total price is said to be in the S$160 million-plus range.
The units were sold by Lian Beng Group, which acquired them at S$151 million in 2016.
An Altallo-linked entity is also understood to be paying a low-S$90 million figure for the cluster of nine properties in HDB estates that property group JBE picked up from NTUC Enterprise unit Mercatus in 2024 at the low-S$80 million range.
Furthermore, Altallo is said to be in exclusive due diligence for a potential purchase of the latest portfolio of 11 retail assets Mercatus put on the market in the fourth quarter of 2025 at an indicative price of about S$307 million.
Word on the street is that Altallo may also be a prospective buyer of i12 Katong. It has been doing due diligence on the mall; the pricing is said to be around S$370 million.
Ties to Andre Tanoto
Altallo, incorporated last year with the primary business activity of fund management, is owned by Roger Tan and Seah Jun Hao, according to a search on the Handshakes portal. Industry observers surmise that the money behind the group is from a group of families/investors, of which the biggest is likely to be Tanoto, who is in his mid-40s.
The Singapore permanent resident and Indonesian citizen is the eldest child of Indonesian-born tycoon Sukanto Tanoto, who founded RGE (Royal Golden Eagle).
Andre Tanoto is the only one of the elder Tanoto’s four children who is not on the executive management board of RGE. The Singapore-headquartered group has interests in pulp and paper, palm oil and the provision of integrated energy, among other businesses.
Andre Tanoto is the chairman of Antica Foundation, which was incorporated in 2025.
The foundation, with the primary activity of charitable and other supporting activities aimed at humanitarian work, is a public company limited by guarantee, according to a search on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority portal. Andre Tanoto is both a member and a director of the foundation. Tan is a member and Seah, a director.
Antica Foundation's office is on the same floor of Shaw House in Orchard Road as Altallo Asset Management’s office.
The properties
The i12 Katong mall, at the corner of East Coast and Joo Chiat roads, was quietly put on the market in around November 2025 with an asking price of above S$350 million. This is down from the nearly S$470 million price tag from when it was previously offered a couple of years ago via an expression-of-interest exercise.
Word in the market is that this time around, the property was offered with outline advice from the planning authority allowing a new commercial and residential development, subject to conditions including a re-zoning of the site. The site is currently zoned commercial.
Market watchers say a prospective buyer may choose to keep the existing asset. The six-storey mall, which has two basement levels for car parking, is on a site with 99-year leasehold tenure from August 1979, which leaves a balance of about 52.5 years.
The property is owned by Keppel.
The price of about S$370 million reflects about S$1,750 per square foot (sq ft) on the current net lettable area of about 212,000 sq ft. Tenants include Golden Village, CS Fresh, PS Cafe and Core Collective.
The cluster of nine properties bought by JBE earlier from Mercatus, and now being purchased by an Altallo-linked entity includes commercial/retail space in Bukit Merah Central, Aljunied Avenue 2, Hougang Avenues 3 and 4, Teck Whye Lane and Holland Drive. Also in the cluster are shophouses in Tampines Street 11, Jurong West Street 41 and Clementi Avenue 2. The nine properties have a total strata area of about 60,000 sq ft.
The latest portfolio of 11 retail assets offered for sale by Mercatus in Q4 2025 comprises strata retail space in Coronation Shopping Plaza and Bukit Timah Plaza and nine HDB commercial shops.
The four big-format retail units sold by Lian Beng have strata areas ranging from 23,960 sq ft (for the unit at 192 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh) to 30,139 sq ft (for the unit at 166 Bukit Merah Central); the combined area of the four units is about 104,800 sq ft.
