/// West Malaysia Property News
Malaysia’s Newest Billionaire Mints Money From Reclaiming Land and Selling Dreams
a new waterfront lifestyle hub,
Malaysia’s first.
Lim ranked No. 18 on Forbes’ list
of Malaysia’s 50 richest in February
this year, with a net worth estimated
at $975 million. Since then, a rise in
the stock price of civil engineering
firm Ekovest Berhad, of which
he owns about 33%, and a slight
strengthening of the Malaysian
ringgit have lifted Lim’s fortune just
over $1 billion.
(Second left) Lee Hsien Loong (Prime Minister of Singapore), (middle) Datuk Seri Najib Razak
(Prime Minister of Malaysia) and (Second right) Tan Sri Lim Kang Hoo viewing Danga Bay
architectural model
The man of the moment in Malaysia
is newly minted billionaire Lim Kang
Hoo, whose Iskandar property play
and an investment in construction
firm Ekovest, has catapulted him to
a berth in the billionaires’ club.
Lim Kang Who? That’s the reaction
most Malaysians, even in the
business media, would have to the
man who is a rank outsider in the
world of movers and shakers.
“Fifteen years ago, no one wanted
to lend me a dollar and people used
to laugh at me when I showed the
concept of creating JB (Johor Bahru)
into a waterfront city like Hong
Kong-Shenzhen. They thought I was
crazy,” he said in an interview for
StarBizweek, a local financial weekly,
in 2012.
Then last year, he shared the stage
with both the prime minister of
Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, and
prime minister of Malaysia, Najib
Razak, for launching a new township
in collaboration with marquee
names like CapitaLand and Temasek
. His smile did little to hide the
smugness of a man who gets the
last laugh.
Lim Kang Hoo owns 4,000 acres
in the Iskandar region, one of
the hottest property destinations
in Asia. Other investors there
include billionaires of all shades,
from Robert Quok to Peter Lim
and Jeffery Cheah, as well as some
of the best names in property
development in China and Australia,
and sovereign funds in Singapore
and Malaysia wanting a stake. The
land Lim bought for MYR1.5 – RM 3
($0.47- $0.95) a square foot in 1997
is now selling between MYR 350-500
($110-170).
And he also owns the right to
reclaim many more acres to build
Ironically, Lim’s foray into Iskandar
began during the depths of the
Asian financial crisis in 1997 when
he assumed RM 200 million ($62
million) debt in state investment
agency Kumpulan Praserana Rakyat
Johor (KPRJ) and received land
reclamation rights in exchange.
(KPRJ is now a partner in his
Iskandar Water Front Holdings with
a 40% stake).
Since then, he has been investing
and working on reclaiming land,
building shoreline protection,
deepening existing rivers and
relentlessly working to convince all
of the potential of Johor Bahru, a
once sleepy town across the border
from Singapore with a population
of 1.4 million, now a part of the
expanding Iskandar population.
Lim has a grand makeover plan for
Johor and Iskandar. He has been
buying abandoned shops and plots
occupied by squatters, often tracing
owners who had migrated in order
to consolidate his holdings in the
Johor Central District and plans
to make it a world-class heritage
city. It will have a China Town, Little
India, Malay Street and nightlife
attractions. Both the state and
central government are funding this.
On the west side of Iskandar, Lim
has plans to make Danga Bay into
a premier waterfront destination
with cruise terminals, marina,
fisherman’s wharf and tower to
house residences, offices, hotels
and convention centers. Here he
has sold land to China Garden, one
of the top developers in China, but
most of the current projects are
being develop Y[