Google co-founder's family office sets up S'pore branch

The family office of Google co-founder Sergey Brin has set up a branch here, joining the rush of uber-wealthy clans towards the South-east Asian financial hub.

Bayshore Global Management, the California-based firm that services Mr Brin, established an office in Singapore late last year, according to documents filed with the corporate regulator.

Deputy chief investment officer Marie Young was appointed as a director of the unit.

Mr Brin is the world's ninth-richest person, with a net worth of US$86.5 billion (S$115 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is the latest tycoon to take advantage of Singapore's low taxes, high security and generous incentives for family offices, which manage the lives and wealth of the super-rich.

Hedge fund boss Ray Dalio is opening one in the country, while vacuum cleaner maker James Dyson's Weybourne Group is already in the Republic.

Mr Brin co-founded search giant Google - now a unit of Alphabet - with Mr Larry Page in 1998. As the company expanded globally, Singapore became a regional hub and the pair visited the city in 2016 to meet its leaders and learn about its development. While the men have stepped away from active management of the company, they still own super-voting shares giving them control.

Bayshore's Singapore filings show its primary activity will be family office-related. The office takes its name from North Bayshore, the section of Mountain View, California, where Google has its headquarters. Its Singapore unit is held through a holding company named Parachute Capital (SGP), which also lists Ms Young as a director.

Representatives of Alphabet and Bayshore did not immediately reply to requests for comment. Ms Young did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

The move comes as the Singapore Government seeks to attract the world's wealthiest people to its shores.

The jobs and training it offers to locals are key drivers behind tax incentives and a global investor programme that gives ultra-rich individuals a pathway to permanent residence. About 200 single-family offices are estimated to be managing assets worth about US$20 billion in the city as at last October.

Singapore has become a relatively stable base for those looking for an Asian outpost, particularly as rival hub Hong Kong faces political tensions that could lead to an exodus of cash. Family offices in Asia have outperformed their global peers, thanks to their bigger exposure to Chinese stocks and technology companies, according to UBS Group.

It is not just Western business executives who are setting up family offices in Singapore.

Ms Shu Ping, the billionaire co-founder of Chinese hotpot empire Haidilao International Holding, opened one in the Republic, while a surge in Asian wealth is fuelling family office demand at DBS Group Holdings.

BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Correction note: The article was edited to reflect the correct honorific for Ms Shu Ping. We are sorry for the error.