SINGAPORE – After nearly three decades in a prime Bukit Timah location, Raffles Town Club (RTC) will vacate its long-time home before its lease ends on Oct 17, 2026.

The site will be redeveloped for residential housing, said the Singapore Land Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority on Nov 20. 

The Straits Times traces the rise and fall of the luxury haven that was once touted as one of the most exclusive clubs in Singapore. 

March 1996: Raffles Town Club site secured for $100 million

Europa Holdings, well known at the time for operating food and nightlife entertainment businesses, successfully bid for the Bukit Timah site for $100.1 million – more than double the next closest offer of $46.6 million.

Europa chief Dennis Foo – dubbed the king of Singapore nightlife and the man behind iconic nightspots like St James Power Station and Shanghai Dolly – said the cost of the project was justified by the membership prices of existing clubs. “We have done our calculations and have cause for celebration,” he said at the time.

November 1996: Membership launched

Memberships were by-invitation only, and cost $28,000. At the time, an ordinary membership, for instance, at the Singapore Recreation Club could be bought for about $49,500. Raffles Town Club membership was touted as “exclusive” and “limited”. It was later found to have accepted 19,000 applications. 

March 2000: Club officially opens, hits first bump 

Despite launching its membership priced at $28,000 and reaching highs of $40,000 over subsequent years, prices dipped almost immediately. 

Five months into its opening, people were selling their memberships for $15,000 to $16,000. Club managers said buyers no longer viewed club memberships as investments.

September 2000: Peter Lim sues club shareholders Lawrence Ang and William Tan for reneging on deal

Former remisier Peter Lim sued key Europa shareholders Lawrence Ang and William Tan for failing to honour a verbal agreement to give him a 40 per cent stake in the company. 

The agreement, which was made after Mr Lim helped to finance the project by pumping in some $30 million in 1996, also included giving a 10.1 per cent stake to Mr Foo. 

Mr Ang, the executive chairman of the club, and Mr Tan said the agreement was different. In their telling, Mr Lim had agreed to invest $20 million in return for a 20 per cent stake in the club and the company. This stake was later increased to 39.21 per cent. 

The case was resolved in April 2001 when Mr Ang and a third party – later revealed to be future owners Lin Jian Wei and Margaret Tung – agreed to pay Mr Lim and Mr Foo $50 million for their stakes in the club and companies in an out-of-court settlement, according to sources.

June 2001: RTC changes hands

Two of the seven RTC directors, Chinese investor Mr Lin and Singaporean businesswoman Ms Tung, bought the company’s remaining shares from Mr Ang.

The co-owners had previously bought half of the shares from Mr Lim and Mr Foo in an out-of-court settlement.

In July, the five remaining directors stepped down from their posts and assumed roles as members of a new advisory committee to the board.

October 2001: Former directors Ang, Tan and Foo taken to task for failing to declare income 

Mr Ang and Mr Tan were charged with failing to declare as income tens of millions of dollars in interest-free loans since 1996. They were ordered to pay penalties of $1.022 million and $77,846 respectively – the same amount as the tax they owed.

In a separate hearing in November, Mr Foo was ordered to pay taxes and penalties amounting to $1.03 million. Mr Foo described his failure to declare his loans as an “oversight”. 

November 2001: Club members take RTC to court for misrepresentation 

This was the start of what was called the Raffles 5000 lawsuit. Close to 5,000 of the club’s founding members sued RTC for alleged breach of contract and said the club misrepresented its exclusivity. They wanted refunds for the $28,000 they paid to join. 

Members were surprised to learn that the club had some 19,000 members, and said they were told the “exclusive” club would have no more than 7,000 members. 

Each of the 4,895 members paid $300 to fund the lawsuit. RTC denied the allegations. The suit was dismissed after the judge visited the club and deemed the facilities “opulent” and “lavish”, in line with the adjectives used in promotional material. The club members were ordered to pay for the club’s legal costs.

Members appealed and the court ruled in August 2003 that RTC had breached its obligations to deliver a premier club by taking in 19,000 members. The High Court ordered RTC to pay $1,000 to each of the 4,895 members.

After a second appeal, the court tripled the payout to $3,000 for each member.

RTC later failed to meet a court deadline to pay up, and an alternative payment scheme comprising cash and meal vouchers amounting to $3,000 was offered to each of the 19,000 members.

April 2002: RTC shareholder Tan Buck Chye sues fellow shareholders Ang, Tan and Foo for fraud 

Mr Tan claimed he was told by the three men the response to the membership launch in 1996 was “not good” and the project “might not be viable”. It led him to sell his stake in Europa and the club to Mr Ang at an amount far less than the shares were worth.

Mr Tan and his wife, Ms Teriya Nganthavee, sought $140 million in damages, alleging that Mr Ang, Mr Tan and Mr Foo, together with Mr Lim, conspired to defraud them. The four men denied the allegations. 

The suit was dropped eight days after hearings started in April 2003 following talks between parties. Terms were not disclosed. 

February 2006: Former directors Ang, Tan and Foo, and Lim sued by RTC

RTC claimed that its former directors, together with “de facto director” Peter Lim, had breached the fiduciary duty of loyalty to the club, among other allegations. All four men denied allegations and filed five counter-suits. 

RTC claimed that the former directors accepted 19,000 members with the aim of “siphoning” membership funds out of the club. It also claimed a “misapplication” of the funds by the defendants in 1997. 

The $130 million claim includes an indemnity of $53 million, the amount RTC was liable to pay its members after the Raffles 5000 lawsuit, and $33 million for funds which were allegedly misapplied. 

In May 2010, the court dismissed the case after ruling that the former directors did not breach their duties and had acted in the best interests of the club when they were in charge. 

This decision was upheld in October 2012 after an appeal by RTC. The court also found that RTC owners Mr Lin and Ms Tung had “acted unconscionably and in bad faith” and made use of the club to take legal action. As a result, they had to pay the legal costs of Mr Ang, Mr Tan and Mr Lim.

September 2007: Lim sues RTC owners for defamation 

Billionaire Mr Lim accused owners Mr Lin and Ms Tung of libel, over a statement which implied he was “party to the culpable mismanagement of RTC prior to April 2001”. It was also implied that Mr Lim and other founding shareholders left the owners with no money to pay the $45 million in damages awarded to members after the Raffles 5000 lawsuit.

The court eventually awarded Mr Lim $210,000 in damages after finding that Mr Lin and Ms Tung acted with malice and deliberately made half true statements. The owners were also ordered to pay $250,000 in legal costs to Mr Lim in October 2011. 

May 2013: Foo sues Ang and Tan for conspiring and hiding sale 

Former Europa director Mr Foo alleged that Mr Ang and Mr Tan had conspired to hide from him their plan to buy his stake and then resell it to RTC’s new owners Mr Lin and Ms Tung.

Mr Foo said in court that he suffered a loss from the sale of his shares in three companies – RTC, Europa and ABR Holdings – to Mr Ang for $11 million. He claimed that he would not have sold his shares if he knew they were going to be resold and would have gained $13.2 million in dividends if he remained an RTC shareholder.

Mr Foo’s claims were eventually dismissed and a judge referred to the case as a “complete non-starter” built on erroneous factual premises. 

November 2023: Govt announces that RTC’s lease will not be renewed when it expires in October 2026 

The Singapore Land Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority said the site occupied by the club will be used for housing after the club’s lease expires on 17 Oct, 2026. RTC will be required to return the land to the state before its expiration date.

It is unclear if the club is planning to relocate. 

The club is no longer selling memberships but interested buyers can still find them on the open market. As at Nov 22, checks by ST showed that memberships were being sold for between $200 and $15,000 on e-commerce platforms such as Carousell.