SINGAPORE – CapitaLand Investment said its workforce in China plunged by about 10 per cent, or 365 people, in 2025 as the asset manager continues to grapple with a major real estate crisis in Asia’s largest economy. The Singapore-listed company’s overall headcount shrunk to 9,542 in 2025, according to a global sustainability report it published late on May 30, down from 10,158 a year prior. That marks the first drop in its global employee count since 2022. China remains the country with the largest portion
of the firm’s workforce, but its share of the total fell to 33 per cent from 35 per cent in 2024. The property-focused manager, majority owned by Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, is grappling with a years-long property downturn in China that continues to afflict its sizable portfolio there. CapitaLand Investment’s headcount in its Singapore base also saw a reduction, though the proportion stayed unchanged at 24 per cent of global employees. India, a market where the company is expanding, bucked the trend with its
proportion of global staff rising to 6 per cent from 5 per cent in 2024. The company incurred a fair value loss of US$427 million (S$545 million) in China in 2025 and continued to see rents under pressure across its assets there in the first quarter, ranging from offices and retail malls to business parks. It has tried to adopt what it calls a “China-for-China” strategy that involves wooing local investors and listing local real estate investment trusts. Nearly S$23 billion of the S$50 billion
of assets it manages under its private funds are in China. CapitaLand Investment’s turnover rate jumped to 24 per cent in 2025 from 21 per cent in 2024, though it said it has not conducted major layoffs. Bloomberg News earlier reported it is in merger discussions with Mapletree Investments, another property manager owned by Temasek, which could lead to a sizable combination including a carve-out of its China assets. BLOOMBERG
CapitaLand Investment, China staffing cuts, property downturn, fair value loss, Temasek, Mapletree Investments merger discussions, China-for-China strategy, employee turnover