Singapore investors report N America property scheme to police

Five Singaporeans, including two people in their 70s, who invested in a company offering attractive returns on real estate investments in the US and Canada, have reported the company to the police.

Singapore investors report N America property scheme to police

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The investors taking action against A2A Capital Management collectively put more than S$1m (£0.57m, $0.71m, €0.67m) into the firm between 2011 and 2014, reports Singapore newspaper The Straits Times.

Many more investors in Singapore are thought to have invested with the property development and investment firm, which has offices in Singapore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Toronto, and Dallas-Fort Worth, according to the A2A website.

The company currently has five projects open to investors; three in Texas and two in Canada. All of which are residential developments.

Regulator watch list

A2A was placed on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (Mas) investor alert list on 23 March.

Companies are included on the list if they “provide a listing of unregulated persons who, based on information received by Mas, may have been wrongly perceived as being licenced or authorised by Mas”.

Investment risk

Documents relating to A2A investment, obtained by the Singapore newspaper, state that the scheme “entails risks that may lead to substantial or total loss of capital”.

They also state “there is no guarantee, and no representation is made, that the investment objectives can be achieved or that the [development plan] would be successful”.

No information is provided, however, about the nature of the police reports and on what grounds the five investors are challenging A2A.

Investor action

Two of the five investors, who invested a combined S$800,000, are in their 70s.

Madam Mohamad, aged 78, invested S$500,000 in several projects between 2011 and 2014. To date, she has received only one payment, for S$1,500 last year.

David Lee, aged 72, is the only one of the five investors who got back the principal sum from his first investment in 2013. Lee had invested S$27,000 in a Texas project, which offered a 110% return after the one-year maturity.

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