BY NELSON BENJAMIN
Capital World Ltd chief executive Officer Siow Chien Fu (pic) said this allowed their costs to be lower while maximising returns.
JOHOR BARU: While most developers will prefer to purchase their own land before developing it, one local company has a different business model to keep its costs low – going into joint ventures with land owners.
Capital World Ltd chief executive officer Siow Chien Fu (pic) said this allowed their costs to be lower while maximising returns.
“That is why our company has almost zero borrowings from the banks,” Siow, a trained architect, said in an interview.
Siow, who hails from Melaka and previously ran a successful award-winning architect firm for 20 years, said that his passion had always been to be a developer.
“I got this opportunity to realise my dream seven years ago and now I am developing an integrated mall known as Capital21 along Jalan Tampoi,” he added.
This integrated development encompasses a six-level shopping mall, hotel and serviced apartments.
“For me each piece of land has an intrinsic value. It is the task of the developer to uncover it and make best use of it.
“Another milestone for the company was when we were listed on the Singapore stock exchange on May 5,” he added.
Siow added that it was not an easy feat to be listed in Singapore as it has strict listing requirements.
“With the listing we hope to continue to grow as we have two other projects in Johor and another one in Perak.
“We also hope to use the opportunity to venture into other South-East Asian countries as Singapore opens up an international platform for us,” he said, adding that he was lucky that he has a strong team with him, which was focused on meeting their goals.
He added that his vast experience as an architect and having been involved in the design of major malls and hypermarkets were added advantages.
“Capital21 will truly be an eye opener for everyone.
“I have visited 40 to 50 malls around the world all these years and will bring back the ideas to our mall which is one million square feet in Johor Baru,” he said.
He added that each floor has its own separate theme, such as European, Asian, American, Australian, African and Middle Eastern.
“I am going to have a 300m canal with gondolas inside the mall similar to Venice.
“It is really going to be an exciting mall as it’s the first of its kind in Malaysia,” Siow said, adding that the mall was expected to be open in the second quarter of next year.
He explained that Hilton would have a 315-room hotel within the development while the company would have another operator for their 630-room hotel suites.
There will also be 690 units of serviced apartments within the development.
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