Singapore To Be Lippo's Springboard To Asia

Source : The Business Times, September 14, 2007

Group in expansion mode to make Republic its international HQ

A red-letter day: Mr Riady, seen here with Ms Ho , was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by La Trobe University for contributions to education

(SINGAPORE) The Lippo Group will use Singapore as its international headquarters as it grows its presence in Asia, Chief Executive Mr James Riady told BT in an interview.

Right now, about 70 per cent of the group's assets are in Indonesia, but the figure could fall to around 50 per cent in a few years' time as the group expands in the rest of Asia, Mr Riady said. Mr Riady was in Singapore on Wednesday to receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Australia-based La Trobe University, which held one of its graduation ceremonies here.

'I think our perspective is now more Asian, and Singapore provides a good base for us to open up in markets across Asia,' he said.

He identified China as a big market for the group going forward. In South-east Asia, Lippo is looking at Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, he said.

But going forward, the bulk of Lippo's economic base will continue to be in Indonesia, Mr Riady said. Right now, the group has about 70 per cent of its assets in Indonesia, while Singapore accounts for another 15 per cent.

In Singapore, Lippo will continue to grow its property, retail and food businesses, he said. Lippo bought a stake in historic Singapore retailer Robinson last year and also has a majority stake in Auric Pacific, a Singapore-listed food and property company.

Opportunities for property investments are going to be harder to come by in future compared to the past few years, said Mr Riady.

'I suspect that while the opportunities will still come up, they will not be as many, as the supply (of sites) will not be as much as during the last three years,' he said.

Lippo will therefore not 'expand for the sake of expanding', instead, it will 'intensify' what businesses it already has here. For one, the company will look to build up its brand name in Singapore, he added.

Mr Riady received his honorary degree from La Trobe for his accomplishments as a global business leader and education advocate. As chairman of the Pelita Harapan Educational Foundation in Indonesia, Mr Riady has helped set up 18 schools and three universities in Indonesia.

Also, the foundation set up a teacher training college to produce qualified teachers four years ago. And every year, it gives out 500 full scholarships to teachers for the college. The first batch of 500 teachers will graduate in May next year.

As the 'education centre' of South-east Asia, it is Singapore's duty to raise awareness of the importance of education, Mr Riady said.

At Wednesday's ceremony, close to 100 La Trobe students graduated. Present at the event were Temasek Holdings Executive Director Ms Ho Ching, who was the guest-of-honour, the university's vice-chancellor Paul Johnson and Murli Thadani, director of La Trobe's international arm.