By Sharen Kaur
sharen@mediaprima.com.my
Published in NST on January 22, 2014
NO man is an island but Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin quitting as SP Setia Bhd boss has implications beyond the management changes that will take place in the country's top property developer, post April 30.
The Battersea Power Station project in London will miss Liew much more than SP Setia, and at stake is the reputation of Malaysia's top builder in London.
The knee-jerk reaction has been to look at how SP Setia will cope without Liew.
With the excitement over his resignation, most people have forgotten that the Battersea project is Liew's brainchild. He has been spearheading the project, located by the River Thames, from Day One.
To recap, a Malaysian consortium comprising SP Setia, Sime Darby Property Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund won the bid to redevelop the Battersea power station, which had sat idle for 30 years.
The project, currently the biggest development in the United Kingdom and perhaps also in Europe, has shown that Malaysians can be world champs.
It is expected to generate more than RM40 billion in gross development value over 12 to 15 years.
Phase 1 of the project, launched in January 2013, has since seen a 99 per cent take-up rate for the 866 residential units named Circus West.
Besides the Battersea project, Liew brought SP Setia to Melbourne, where it is developing Parque, which comprises 323 apartments worth RM800 million.
Obviously, the man has international contacts to help in the design of properties, acquire choice land and pinpoint growth areas abroad.
These are the tools that Liew will bring on board to Eco World Development Group Bhd (formerly Focal Aims Holdings Bhd), which has a few billion ringgit worth of projects in hand.
And these are the very same things SP Setia will miss when Liew clocks off.
The Johor-based Eco World is linked to Liew through his son, Tian Xiong, who is a director of the company.
The most defining thing about Liew is the loyalty he commands from the people who work with him. The true quality of a leader is not in the leadership but in how he is perceived by the people who work with him.
At SP Setia, the question is not who will replace Liew but who will bring in 250 "foot soldiers" to replace the 250 who will quit SP Setia to mostly join Eco World.
Those 250 are the nuts and bolts of the once formidable SP Setia juggernaut.
sharen@mediaprima.com.my
Published in NST on January 22, 2014
NO man is an island but Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin quitting as SP Setia Bhd boss has implications beyond the management changes that will take place in the country's top property developer, post April 30.
The Battersea Power Station project in London will miss Liew much more than SP Setia, and at stake is the reputation of Malaysia's top builder in London.
The knee-jerk reaction has been to look at how SP Setia will cope without Liew.
With the excitement over his resignation, most people have forgotten that the Battersea project is Liew's brainchild. He has been spearheading the project, located by the River Thames, from Day One.
The project, currently the biggest development in the United Kingdom and perhaps also in Europe, has shown that Malaysians can be world champs.
It is expected to generate more than RM40 billion in gross development value over 12 to 15 years.
Phase 1 of the project, launched in January 2013, has since seen a 99 per cent take-up rate for the 866 residential units named Circus West.
Besides the Battersea project, Liew brought SP Setia to Melbourne, where it is developing Parque, which comprises 323 apartments worth RM800 million.
Obviously, the man has international contacts to help in the design of properties, acquire choice land and pinpoint growth areas abroad.
These are the tools that Liew will bring on board to Eco World Development Group Bhd (formerly Focal Aims Holdings Bhd), which has a few billion ringgit worth of projects in hand.
And these are the very same things SP Setia will miss when Liew clocks off.
The Johor-based Eco World is linked to Liew through his son, Tian Xiong, who is a director of the company.
The most defining thing about Liew is the loyalty he commands from the people who work with him. The true quality of a leader is not in the leadership but in how he is perceived by the people who work with him.
At SP Setia, the question is not who will replace Liew but who will bring in 250 "foot soldiers" to replace the 250 who will quit SP Setia to mostly join Eco World.
Those 250 are the nuts and bolts of the once formidable SP Setia juggernaut.
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