‘TOO MANY LISTED PLAYERS’
Consolidation needed before ‘we start killing each other’, says UEM Sunrise CEO
UEM Sunrise Bhd is optimistic the property market will gradually rebound despite ongoing concerns among developers over the global economy and persistent sluggish performance of the real estate sector.
UEM Sunrise managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Anwar Syahrin Abdul Ajib said he was confident the market would recover soon and that it was all about consolidation now.
“If I put myself as an observer and not the CEO of this company, it (consolidation) should happen. We have too many (listed property players), around 100-plus.
“For example, at The Edge property awards event this year, there were many (listed) real estate players there, with more than 50 submissions for awards received this year,” said Anwar during a media familiarisation trip to UEM Sunrise’s The Maris project, here, on Friday.
Anwar said consolidation was important for the industry’s sustainability.
“The good thing is that everybody is passionate (about) this industry and people are benefiting from it. We all benefit with beautiful townships, nice designs and so forth.
“All of that is good, but there is no sustainability. The government should not easily give out housing developer’s licences and sale and advertising permits. Otherwise, we will be killing each other eventually.”
Anwar said sustainability would also play a significant role in the consolidation of the fragmented packaging industry, with small companies without sufficient scale and financial resources having to join larger packaging outfits or risk being left behind.
“I don’t have a nice figure on how many players we should have in the industry at this point of time. But, this is all a delicate balance because we don’t want big institutions or government-linked companies to crowd out the market. This will only stifle entrepreneurship.
“We want to support the small companies to grow. Thus, it is about finding the balance that I think only the policymakers can do,” he said.
He added that these collaborations could be best worked out when there was a proper synergy between the collaborating parties.
According to Anwar, the success could be seen through the merger of UEM Land Holdings Bhd and Sunrise Bhd in late 2010 to create Malaysia’s largest property firm then, with market capitalisation of nearly RM10 billion and a 4,856ha landbank.
“UEM Land and Sunrise, we have done it well but it was not easy and it took us several years. I think only in the last couple years have we seen real integration within the organisation.
“It is just simple things like working together, standardising operating procedures and trusting each other. It is a long process but at the strategic level, we have to be clear that it makes sense and it does not limit the ability of the organisation to become agile and grow,” he added.
Meanwhile, Anwar declined to comment on rumours UEM Sunrise and Eco World Development Group Bhd could be merging,
It was reported that UEM Sunrise might buy over EcoWorld in a share swap deal that could see the latter’s substantial shareholder Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin ending up with a 15 to 20 per cent stake in the former.
As a combined entity, it will cover a total landbank of 7,284ha with a potential gross development value of RM190 billion.