On the morning of 18 March 2025, Gallant Tang was standing perfectly still in a room full of property insiders, but his body was telling a very different story. To any casual observer, the 29-year-old looked calm, perhaps even detached. But a quick glance at his smartwatch revealed a different reality: his heart rate had spiked to a staggering 136 beats per minute.
“I was just mildly hyperventilating,” he recalls with a wry smile. “It was a very, very anxiety-inducing day for me.”
Tang was waiting for the results of a government land tender for a coveted site in Bayshore, on Singapore’s popular East Coast. It was SingHaiyi Group’s third attempt at a major land bid since the start of the year. The previous two had been misses—expensive, public, and humbling. For the newly minted CEO, this wasn’t just about a plot of land; it was about proving he could steer the massive family empire his parents had spent decades building.
Today, Gallant Tang is no longer just “the son of the founders.” As the Group CEO of SingHaiyi, he is navigating a “baptism of fire” that has seen him face off against global pandemics, broken supply chains, and the immense pressure of carrying a family legacy into a volatile new era.
A Family Empire Built on Grit
To understand the weight on Gallant’s shoulders, you have to look at the power couple behind the name. His parents, Gordon and Celine Tang, originally moved to Singapore from Guangdong, China, in the 1990s. They started with a trading firm, but their sharp instincts for property soon turned them into one of the most formidable forces in the Asian real estate market.
Through a series of bold acquisitions—including the takeover and privatization of Chip Eng Seng and SingHaiyi—they built a portfolio that stretches from the luxury offices of the CBD to sprawling residential condominiums in the heartlands.
Gallant’s introduction to this world wasn’t in a boardroom, but on a chaotic showroom floor. At 19, his mother dragged him to the launch of The Vales, an executive condominium.
“I got to see the absolute chaos of people running around,” he says. But more than the numbers, it was the emotion that stuck. “For most people, a home is the biggest purchase they’ll ever make. Seeing them leave feeling like they’d won the lottery, even though they’d just spent a million bucks—that part was fascinating.”
The Failure that Led to a Win
The road to the top wasn’t paved with easy victories. When Tang returned to Singapore in 2023 after four years at business school in Canada, he found a market that was fundamentally broken by the pandemic.
His first major test came in early 2025 with two high-profile bids at Media Circle and River Valley Green. SingHaiyi lost both. At Media Circle, they were beaten by a rival consortium whose bid was 7% higher. At River Valley, they missed out by 9%.
“What I learnt from those attempts was that I can’t do everything by myself,” Tang admits. “I wasn’t asking enough questions. I was trapped in this idea that I needed to be ‘hyper-competent’ to prove myself. But that was a failing strategy.”
It was a pivotal moment of growth. For the subsequent Bayshore bid, Tang threw out the old playbook. Traditionally, land-price discussions were a “black box” involving only two or three senior executives. Tang opened the doors, bringing in more stakeholders and creating a “safe space” for experts to disagree with him.
He leaned heavily on industry veteran Raymond Chia, who had spent 30 years handling everything from site bidding to construction. “He could do it with his eyes blindfolded,” Tang says. “I can’t pretend to have that expertise, so I rely on the team.”
The strategy worked. SingHaiyi clinched the Bayshore plot with a bid of S$658.9 million, outmuscling seven other developers. It was the “huge blessing” Tang needed to cement his leadership.
Navigating the “Dangerous Opportunity”
Tang’s parents often preached a philosophy they called the “dangerous opportunity.” The idea is simple: wherever there is danger or turbulence, there is a gap for those brave enough to take it.
Currently, the “danger” is everywhere. The post-pandemic world has left a trail of “torn-apart” supply chains. Tang points to the rising cost of concrete following weather disasters in Vietnam and a critical shortage of specialised labour in Singapore.
“Construction demand is growing so fast it’s hard to keep up,” he explains. “There aren’t enough crane operators, excavators, or piling rigs. The list goes on.”
Despite these headwinds, the group is busier than ever. SingHaiyi currently has eight massive projects underway, including:
- Skywaters Residences: A high-end luxury development in the CBD.
- Grand Dunman: A major residential project in the East.
- Golden Mile Complex: A joint-venture redevelopment of one of Singapore’s most iconic heritage buildings.
- Sora: A mass-market condominium in Jurong.
The Next Chapter: Beyond Bricks and Mortar
If his parents built the foundation, Gallant is designing the skyscraper. He is pushing the group to look beyond traditional residential sales and into “new-age” asset classes.
He has established a brand-new team tasked with exploring assisted living, active ageing facilities, student accommodation, and co-living spaces. He recently toured the UK and Australia to see how these models work in Western markets, despite the shifting tax and immigration policies that make international expansion a minefield.
Back in Singapore, his focus is on “adaptive reuse”—taking old, tired buildings and giving them a second life. He points to the former Peace Centre, which SingHaiyi helped transform into a temporary community arts hub called PlayPan before construction began on their new project, One Sophia.
“Real estate is a data business—that’s one part,” Tang says. “The other is about the actual use of space: making it great by using it well.”
A Legacy in the Making
At 29, Gallant Tang is remarkably humble for a man overseeing billions in assets. He is acutely aware that growing up in “easy times” can make a leader soft. By taking the reins during a period of soaring costs and global uncertainty, he feels he is finally earning his seat at the table.
“My parents always said that starting in difficult conditions is the best way to learn,” he says. “If you do well in hard times, that’s when you truly know you’re doing well.”
As SingHaiyi prepares to launch the Bayshore project in the second quarter of next year, all eyes will be on the young CEO. He may have started the year hyperventilating over a bid, but he’s finishing it with a clear vision: a family empire that isn’t just surviving the new global order, but thriving in it.
