Recently, Kunity successfully assisted a leading domestic internet brand in smoothly establishing its first overseas office in Singapore. This successful transaction was completed in less than one month. By analyzing the client's core needs in the shortest possible time, Kunity selected the most suitable final option from numerous potential solutions for the client.
In this transaction, Kunity not only provided timely responses and efficiently arranged on-site inspections for the client's Singapore branch but also, through the single Kunity interface, supplied the Beijing’ headquarters with extensive market information. This helped the enterprise headquarters quickly understand market options, make rapid decisions, and accelerate market entry and regional expansion, laying a solid foundation for its successful overseas business development.
Why Singapore?
The core importance of Singapore lies in its five major advantages: geopolitical buffer zone attributes, a strategically vital location, a highly competitive tax system and financial environment, a sound legal and business ecosystem, and a diverse talent pool with cultural compatibility. These strengths make it a core strategic pivot for many Chinese-funded enterprises expanding overseas.
1. Geopolitical Buffer Zone
Singapore has long pursued a non-aligned, non-aligned foreign policy. Against the backdrop of escalating China-US competition, it has emerged as a relatively safe "third-party base," reducing the risk of being drawn into sanctions, tariffs, or export controls. Expanding into European and American markets under a Singaporean company name can circumvent identity discrimination, reduce additional scrutiny and trade barriers associated with a "Chinese background," and enhance international recognition.
Its stable political environment, among the lowest in global political risk, features strong policy continuity and no major social unrest, providing a reliable guarantee for long-term investments.
2. Strategically Vital Location
Located at the Strait of Malacca, Singapore is a global shipping and aviation hub connecting the East and West. Within a 4-hour flight radius, it covers the 600-million-person ASEAN market. Establishing headquarters in Singapore while locating manufacturing in low-cost regions such as Malaysia and Indonesia achieves a balance between management efficiency and cost advantages.
Additionally, Singapore boasts an extensive free trade agreement (FTA) network, enjoying tariff reductions and market access facilitation with over 30 countries and regions.
3. Tax System and Financial Environment
Singapore offers a highly competitive tax regime:
(1) The standard corporate income tax rate is only 17%, significantly lower than that of major economies.
(2) Start-up incentives are available: For the first three years, newly established companies enjoy a 75% tax exemption on the first SGD 100,000 of taxable income and a 50% exemption on the next SGD 100,000, resulting in an effective tax rate as low as 4.25%.
(3) Headquarters incentives: Qualified regional headquarters can enjoy a preferential tax rate of 5%-10%, with even lower rates for global headquarters.
There is no capital gains tax or dividend tax, avoiding double taxation.
(4) In terms of the financial ecosystem:
As Asia's second-largest financial center and the world's fourth-largest foreign exchange trading center, Singapore allows full freedom of capital inflows and outflows with no foreign exchange controls.
It has a developed capital market: The Singapore Exchange (SGX) provides Chinese enterprises with channels for IPOs, dual listings, and bond issuances. Currently, it has approximately 600 listed companies with a total market capitalization exceeding USD 600 billion, of which about 20% are from the Greater China region. Financing is convenient, with international capital concentrated and smooth channels for mergers and acquisitions as well as equity financing.
4. Legal and Business Environment
Singapore has a sound legal system with strict intellectual property protection. Its foreign investment policies are friendly, allowing 100% foreign ownership without the need for joint ventures with local enterprises, enabling more autonomous decision-making.
Company registration is typically completed within 1-3 days, with streamlined administrative approval and clean, efficient government services. Information is transparent, adhering to IFRS international financial reporting standards, and the governance structure is standardized, making it easier to attract international investors.
5. Talent and Culture
Singapore attracts global elites, and its English-Mandarin bilingual environment reduces cross-cultural management costs for Chinese enterprises. Its high-quality education system, with local universities and branch campuses of international institutions, provides a large pool of high-quality talent, and professional services are well-developed.
Blending Eastern and Western cultures, with ethnic Chinese accounting for approximately 75% of the population, Singapore's business culture is similar to China's while being familiar with Western business rules, perfectly integrating the two cultures.
Why Kunity?
As a first-time overseas office seeker, the client had little understanding of the specific Singapore market conditions at the initial stage of the project, with unclear needs and no defined budget.
In response to this, Kunity leveraged its rich reserve of the latest global market data to quickly help the client's Beijing headquarters establish an initial budget through a preliminary market research report.
Given the evolving preferences of the local user side regarding location and property type, Kunity promptly delivered two comprehensive comparison plans, enabling the Beijing headquarters to conduct a full assessment across dimensions such as property type, budget differences, services, project quality, and lease terms.
The core factors behind the highly efficient office establishment were the Kunity team's Chinese-language services, rapid response capabilities, and in-depth understanding of the client's decision-making priorities.
This case demonstrates that as a full-chain corporate real estate service provider for domestic enterprises expanding overseas, Kunity, relying on its professional team and in-depth localized service network, as well as its extensive industry experience, helps clients make sound decisions in overseas markets. Through an all-Chinese project team, it overcomes cultural differences, implements Chinese standards combined with Chinese speed, assists clients in rapid overseas localization with maximum efficiency and cost savings, and provides deeper guarantees for their future business development in overseas regions.