Stanley Gibbons targets southeast Asia Stanley Gibbons has put its stamp on the growing Asian market for philately investing with plans to open an office in Singapore, as the venerable British company targets affluent collectors in southeast Asia. The move comes 18 months after the postage stamp trader - established in 1856 - opened its first Asia office in Hong Kong. It is another sign that wealthy investors in the region are becoming more interested in diversifying their portfolios beyond property and equities. That has driven a sharp rise in investment in art and fine wine in recent years. Keith Heddle, investment director at Stanley Gibbons, said there was now growing interest in more exotic investments such as stamps. One investor came to us after having been burnt with wine. It's an element of that, plus an understanding that you need to diversify into assets that are uncorrelated," he said. Stanley Gibbons" choice of Singapore signals that southeast Asia is starting to gain the attention of companies seeking to sell to a new class of rich entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as their countries" economies have comfortably ridden out the global economic downturn. The company estimates that, of the roughly 60m rare stamp collectors worldwide, over two-thirds are based in Asia. Mr Heddle said Hong Kong had been chosen as the company's initial base in the region due to its thriving auction business. But expansion to Singapore highlights how the city-state's increasing profile as a home for the rich is attracting companies wanting to tap into wealth there. According to Boston Consulting Group, Singapore has the highest density of millionaire households per capita, with more than 17 per cent of all households having disposable wealth of US$1m or higher, excluding property. Mr Heddle said that, while Singapore investors were "quite conservative" there were also signs of "an appetite to try new things." "The refrain I've heard for the past two years is "when you open an office in Singapore we'll engage with you,"" he said. While there were only about 20 investors in rare stamps in Singapore, they accounted for 18 per cent of the value of stamps held by such investors globally. "It's a very small group in Singapore who tend to invest quite big," Mr Heddle said. One of Stanley Gibbon's customers in Singapore is the third largest stamp investor in the world by value. Shortly after the company opened in Hong Kong, it made its biggest sale by value to a Singapore client - a block of rare Penny Black stamps for £450,000. Mr Heddle said the most valuable stamp held in Singapore at the moment was a King George V "IR" sixpence stamp, valued at about £500,000.