[SINGAPORE] Jane Street Group is planning to move to a larger office in Singapore in the latest sign of the securities trading juggernaut expanding in Asia after it signed a major lease in Hong Kong.
The US firm is seeking to take up at least one floor at IOI Central Boulevard Towers, a new office development in the central business district, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
A move would mark an upgrade from its current presence on a section of the fourth floor at Ocean Financial Centre, which is operated by a co-working provider. Final arrangements may still change, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Jane Street’s presence in Asia is concentrated in rival financial hub Hong Kong as well as Singapore. It is now looking to ramp up its hiring in the Republic, with almost 10 open positions based there, mostly for engineering roles, according to its website.
“Currently, we are in negotiation with a number of companies and we are unable to divulge any information,” said a spokesperson for Malaysian developer IOI Properties Group Bhd, which owns the new office tower that also houses Morgan Stanley’s new premises.
A New York-based spokesman for Jane Street declined to comment. A spokesperson for property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle confirmed it is facilitating the move but declined to comment further.
A typical floor in the new office development is at least 21,700 square feet (2,016 square metres), while monthly asking rents range from S$14 to S$17.50 per square foot, according to local office consultancy Corporate Locations.
Jane Street’s potential move comes after it signed a major five-year lease for six floors with 223,437 square feet in an upcoming Hong Kong tower, which commences from 2028. That works out to rents of more than HK$30 million (S$5 million) a month, based on Bloomberg calculations.
Singapore’s city centre has one of the tightest office markets in Asia, where a dearth of new supply has kept vacancies low. At the same time, demand for space has been muted, as technology firms and others shy away from large-scale leases to save costs. BLOOMBERG
