I-Berhad boss out to fulfil i-City dream

By Sharen Kaur

sharen@nstp.com.my

Published in NST on March 26, 2012

Tycoon Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong may consider divesting some of his stake in integrated ICT developer I-Berhad to institutional investors.

While stressing that he was not ready to sell, Lim said a change of mind was possible if there were investors who shared the same business interest and philosophy as himself.

Lim, who is the executive chairman of I-Berhad, told Business Times that several local and foreign investors had approached him to buy a stake in the company.

He added that he wanted to spend more time building i-City and create better value for shareholders and investors. Lim owns 65 per cent stake in I-Berhad, a company that started as a digital lifestyle products maker but had in 2006 launched i-City as part of its plans to re-invent itself as a property developer.

i-City is a RM3 billion knowledge and tourism project in Shah Alam, Selangor. Developed on 41ha land for a period of 10 years, i-City provides a digital working environment.

 

I-Berhad bought 29ha of the land in 1993 for RM60 million from the Selangor government. It then won a 21-year concession from the state government in July last year to manage an additional 12ha for the project.

This raised the project’s gross development value from RM2 billion to RM3 billion. “I will be ready to sell some of my shares in the company when i-City has reached certain maturity, and when the investors accept our business model.”

Lim has invested more than RM1 billion of personal funds into i-City over the last five years. Now, 20 per cent of the project has been developed.

Today, i-City is not just an ICT development but an international enclave boasting both leisure and entertainment, as well as other cosmopolitan lifestyle activities.

“For the time and money I have spent on i-City, I could have made billions of ringgit on other projects.

“But I believe in this development and that is why I will continue to invest in the project. “i-City is a new tourism destination for Malaysia and we are contributing to the country’s economy and creating job opportunities and entrepreneurs,” Lim added.

Lim was the first Malaysian to invest in China when he opened his first joint venture (JV) spring mattress plant in Tianjin, China, in 1984.

In the 1970s, the Malaysian bedding industry was dominated by latex foam mattress but with his pioneering spring mattress design, he became the market leader with the Dreamland brand. He was in his mid-30s then.

When China was opening up to foreign investments in 1984, that was when Lim took the Dreamland brand offshore.

Over the next five years, he introduced what he called his "rubber stamp" strategy, where he began to duplicate his JV investment in Tianjin in other major cities in China. By 1995, he had seven mattress plants in China.

Because of his success, Lim became a much sought-after JV partner by the Chinese and thus, he ventured into other industries like steel wire, air-conditioning and independent power plant.

Lim was responsible for the successful listing of Sumurwang's manufacturing arm, Dreamland Holdings Bhd on the Main Board of the local stock exchange in 1987 while serving as its chief executive officer.

In 1991, he diversified Dreamland and ventured into the steel industry, and subsequently changed the company's name to Kanzen Bhd.

In late 1993, Lim divested Sumurwang's interest in Kanzen to reorganise the former's corporate structure to focus on manufacturing, property development and financial services. 

In 1999, Lim, through Sumurwang, acquired I-Berhad to venture into digital lifestyle product manufacturing and subsequently, an ICT developer.

"My vision was to go into technology development and build a cybercentre for the country. I started as an entrepreneur and will promote entrepreneurship. Everyone can be successful provided they have core values," said the Lim .

-ENDS-