Amtel tycoon buys house of Citiraya ex-CEO for $12.5m
Last year, he snapped up 22 units at The Sail
Singapore businessman Sudhir Gupta, of Russian tyre maker Amtel, continues to invest in luxury homes. Yesterday, he snapped up a Good Class Bungalow at 49A Binjai Park for $12.55 million at a Colliers International auction.
The freehold property was previously owned by the former CEO of troubled electronic waste recycler Citiraya, Ng Teck Lee, who never got to live in it. Mr Ng’s present whereabouts are unknown.
Dr Gupta bid for the property yesterday through his brother Sumeer, who later told BT that Dr Gupta and his family intend to move in after renovating it. They now live in Belmont Road, but in a smaller property on about 21,000 sq ft of land, versus the Binjai Park bungalow’s 34,600 sq ft plot.
Late last year, Dr Gupta snapped up 22 apartments, including the 63rd-storey penthouse, in the second tower of The Sail @ Marina Bay condo for a total $31 million.
He owns a unit at Ardmore Park and a unit at The Ladyhill - both of which are being rented out. He has also bought a ’sky villa’ at Ho Bee’s The Berth by The Cove on Sentosa. And he owns an apartment at Meyer Park, which is also rented out.
He is on the lookout for more luxury residential properties in Singapore - if there are good projects. ‘He is buying for long-term investment,’ his brother said.
The Binjai Park bungalow is a two-storey house with basement, boasting eight bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, an entertainment room, a games room, two maids’ rooms, a garage and a swimming pool.
The property was sold by a mortgagee bank, said to be HSBC. It is about 10 years old. Mr Ng bought it in July 2004 for $9 million but never lived in it. He fled Singapore as Citiraya was hit by a scandal involving millions of dollars in bribes and a scam to re-sell obsolete electronics equipment that was meant to be destroyed. Dr Gupta, a Singapore citizen who was born in New Delhi and educated in Moscow, has been boosting his Singapore property portfolio after his wife and daughter moved to Singapore in 2002 - following a failed assassination attempt on him in Moscow.
He was celebrating his 44th birthday in a restaurant when contract killers opened fire at his car and killed his driver.
Source : Business Times - 30 Mar 2006
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