Golsta may enter property market

KUALA LUMPUR: Businessman Tan Sri Clement Hii, who in February emerged as a major shareholder of Golsta Synergy Bhd with a 27.27% stake, has plans for the company to enter the property market in the near future.

Today, Hii owns 52.21% of Golsta, whose principal business is in heavy machine manufacturing.

“These are only plans at the moment and are all subject to shareholder approval, but one possible area to go into is property development,” he told theedgemalaysia.com after SEGi University Group’s annual general meeting yesterday.

Hii did not, however, specify a timeline on this plan but said it might happen in “the near future” depending on the “suitability and viability” of the available projects.

Earlier news reports had speculated that Hii was looking at injecting his privately-held property business into a listed company.

Hii’s HCK Capital Group has a property development arm with several major projects in the Klang Valley and Perak.

According to Hii’s personal blog, HCK Capital Group has secured property projects worth RM3.8 billion in gross development value (GDV) within three years of establishing its property division. G Residences and Jazz Residences in Ara Damansara are among those listed in HCK’s portfolio.

Hii has already begun injecting part of HCK Capital Group’s business into Golsta by incorporating its hospitality and hotel management arm, HCK Hospitality Sdn Bhd.

“The incorporation is expected to enhance the group’s long-term future earnings and net assets,” said Golsta in an announcement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

For the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, Golsta’s net profit rose 44% to RM1.1 million from RM783,000, while revenue rose 18% to RM15.2 million from RM12.9 million a year ago.

On his plans for SEGi University Group, Hii said the focus will include improving the university’s academic quality, infrastructure and overall branding.

“Our focus currently is on conventional programmes and online programmes for students. What we really want to do is to ensure that any future growth to SEGi is sustainable,” Hii said.

He said the market for education remains huge as less than 28% of working adults have diploma qualification or higher.

Hii said the “blended learning” programmes are suitable for busy working adults as they can do their courses and interact with their lecturers online.

Hii: These are only plans at the moment and are all subject to shareholder approval, but one possible area to go into is property development.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on June 19, 2014.