Entrepreneur gave up their green card to settle here
Multimillionaire now builds houses for a living and plays polo around the world
By Tan Dawn Wei
MR SATINDER GARCHA PAID nearly $80 million for a Sentosa Cove site last week. He plans to build 20 villas lining the Tanjong golf course, seen here in the background. — ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
THE humble set-up of Mr Satinder Garcha’s spartan 1,000 sq ft office in Capitol Building - four desks, stark fluorescent lighting and concrete floor - hardly epitomises the luxury designer bungalows he sells.
And much less his net worth.
The 36-year-old boutique property developer is about to double his 22 properties in prime areas such as Nassim and Swettenham roads under his company, Elevation Developments.
Last week, the New Delhi-born Singaporean made news by paying nearly $80 million and outbidding seven other developers to a 71,6000 sq ft site at Sentosa Cove where he will build 20 villas lining the Tanjong golf course.
The plush homes, at about $10 million apiece, will be ready by the end of 2009. He will be keeping one of the villas for himself.
‘I was pretty determined,’ said the tall, impeccably dressed businessman, about securing the prized Sentosa real estate which is close to the green and the beach.
‘I’ve had my eye on it for a year, not knowing how the market will go.’
By then, his property portfolio alone will be an estimated $500 million.
Up until now, the low-key Mr Garcha, who lives in the Dalvey area, was better known outside the property circles as Singapore’s national polo team captain.
Outside of Singapore, however, he was known as a young entrepreneur who sold off his Silicon Valley IT services company, People.com, for a fortune in 2000.
While Mr Garcha is tightlipped about how much he pocketed, at least one report put it at more than US$100 million (S$148 million).
Not bad for someone who had been working for just six months after graduating in mathematics and computer science from the University of Texas at Austin and Lawrence University, and who could not get a loan from most lending institutions.
In 2001, he and his lawyer wife, Harpreet, decided to return to Asia. It was down to two cities: Hong Kong or Singapore.
Singapore won him over since he could play polo here and the couple wanted to start a family, ‘and this is a great place to raise kids’, said Mr Garcha who has a five-year-old daughter.
He gave up his United States green card and took up citizenship a few years later.
He had seen the potential for real estate development and needed to be a Singaporean to buy land.
Real estate here was undervalued at that time, he said.
‘Prices may seem to have shot up now, but we were at a 10-year low. I think there’s still a fair amount of room to run if you take a five-year view.’
He also found Singapore to be a conducive place to do business. ‘The laws are strong, the titles are clear, there are guidelines for everything, everything is done in a structured manner, contracts are very enforceable. So your risks are very low.’
The son of a retired army colonel who was India’s highest-rated polo player, Mr Garcha splits his time between playing polo here and overseas, running his company and managing his other investments.
He can be found at the Singapore Polo Club most days of the week practising or training his six horses.
He also has horses in Europe, Malaysia, India and the US.
He leaves for Argentina soon with his national teammates for some intensive training for December’s South-east Asia Games.
‘I’d be very disappointed if we’re not in the finals,’ said the captain with a handicap of two - the highest in Singapore - and who has broken his hand twice in the last three years.
Maybe that explains the wristband on his right hand with the words Think Positive.
‘I’ll tell you one day what the significance is. But yes, it’s my mantra,’ he said, smiling.
Source : Business Times - 30 sept 2007
Singapore Property - Buy , Sell , Rent , Invest
Mindy Yong
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