PROPERTY TYCOON

VINCENT TAN

Public Company 
Incorporated: 1990
Employees: 24,000
Sales: MYR 7.7 billion ($1.9 billion) (2003)
Stock Exchanges: Kuala Lumpur
NAIC: 551112 Offices of Other Holding Companies; 517212 Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications; 622110 General Medical and Surgical Hospitals; 713990 All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries; 721110 Hotels (Except Casino Hotels) and Motels


Company Perspectives:
Mission: To generate consistently profitable returns for our shareholders from investments in core business activities: by providing direction, financial resources and management support for each operating unit; through establishing a major market presence of each activity; through dynamic and innovative management, teamwork and a commitment to excellence.


Key Dates:
1981: Vincent Tan gains a franchise to open McDonald's restaurants in Malaysia.
1985: The Malaysian government privatizes Sports Toto, the state lottery, and sells 70 percent to Tan.
1990: Tan acquires full control of Sports Toto, and launches a new holding company, Berjaya Group.
1992: The company acquires Unza Malaysia and Manufacturing Services Sendirian Berhard (MSSB), establishing personal care products and other consumer products sales.
1993: The company acquires Roasters Grill Inc. in the United States.
1994: The company acquires Dunham-Bush, manufacturer of refrigeration and air conditioning systems.
1995: Tan launches construction of the Berjaya Times Square complex; the company joins in the launch of the Mutiara Swisscom mobile telephone service (later DiGi).
1998: The company acquires the Malaysian franchise for the Starbucks coffee shop operations.
2001: Berjaya restructures, and takes over 24 percent of DiGi.
2003: Berjaya acquires the Hyundai concession in Malaysia.
2004: Berjaya acquires 70 percent of organic food stores Country Farms; Tan joins in the launch of MiTV pay-television service. 

Malaysian Tycoon in the 1990s

Cosway became one of Berjaya's main operating subsidiaries. In addition to the Singer business, Cosway developed its own "network-marketing" sales model, based on a multilevel sales model similar to that of Tupperware, Avon, and others. The company became a major Malaysian distributor of cosmetics, toiletries, and fashion jewelry, among other products. Cosway also distributed durable consumer goods, and by the beginning of the 2000s had expanded to include the distribution of audiovisual products, both in the retail and rental markets, including films and children's educational products.

The Cosway holding was further expanded in 1992 with the purchase of the Unza Malaysia and Manufacturing Services Sendirian Berhard (MSSB), both manufacturers of personal care and household products, with a combined presence in more than 20 countries, including subsidiaries in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China, and manufacturing operations in China and Vietnam. These operations, expanded with the purchase of Unza International Limited in 2000, were then placed on the Kuala Lumpur Main Board in 2000. The following year, Unza acquired two more companies, Gervas Corporation Sdn. Bhd. and Formapac Sdn. Bhd., the latter a contract manufacturer for the former's line of personal care products.

Cosway also branched out its manufacturing side, acquiring Dunham-Bush Malaysia. Originally set up in 1984, Dunham-Bush specialized in the production of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, marketed under brand names including Dunham-Bush, Anemostat, Polacel, Topaire, and DataAire. Dunham-Bush was taken public in 1994, although majority control rested firmly with Berjaya Group.

Meanwhile, Tan returned to the restaurant sector in the early 1990s. In 1993, Tan bought up the Roadhouse Grill restaurant concept, promoted by country singer Kenny Rogers, and began opening restaurants in the United States. That operation quickly spread, with company-owned restaurants in 11 states and franchise stores added in Brazil, Italy, and Malaysia. The company had similar success with the acquisition of the 7-Eleven convenience store franchise for the Malaysian market. By the 2000s, the company had opened nearly 220 7-Eleven stores in Malaysia.

By the mid-1990s, Tan had emerged as one of the most ambitious and most successful of Malaysia's growing class of business tycoons. In 1995, Tan launched a new project in order to highlight his and Berjaya's success in building a wide range of successful businesses. That project called for the construction of a massive shopping, entertainment, and leisure center, named Berjaya Times Square, in Kuala Lumpur.

Work began on the structure that year. The complex at completion was to include more than 900 stores, as well as an amusement park, hotel rooms, and other leisure and entertainment amenities. Covering more than 675,000 square meters, the complex became the largest in the Asian region, and one of the largest such sites in the world.

Progress on the complex was slowed by the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, and the corresponding property slump, which was then exacerbated by uncertainty following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Nonetheless, Tan pushed through with the project--which originally remained a personal project and not included within the Berjaya Group's financial structure--and the doors opened at the Times Square Complex in October 2003.