News of British forces withdrawing from Singapore by 1971 sent shockwaves through the newly independent nation as it had been dependent on the former for military and economic security. Amid the transition and ensuing economic uncertainty, the late Tan Sri Dr Tan Chin Tuan, a legendary Singaporean banker and philanthropist, saw an opportunity.

 

Tan, who served as chairman of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) from 1966 to 1983, was fondly known as &ldquo Mr OCBC&rdquo . He is widely credited with transforming the Singaporean bank from its humble origins into a multinational financial institution, playing a key role in its growth and consolidation through strategic mergers.

 

Leveraging OCBC&rsquo s financial muscle and his vision, Tan moved decisively to acquire several multinational corporations (MNCs), including diversified group Straits Trading Company (STC), Raffles Hotel, retailer Robinson & Co, property conglomerate United Engineers (UEL), as well as beverage giant Fraser and Neave (F& N), which eventually became some of Singapore&rsquo s best-known companies.

 

STC, in particular, boasts a 138-year history, beginning as a tin smelting powerhouse before evolving into a conglomerate-investment company with operations and financial interests in resources, property, hospitality and financial investments.

 

Tan&rsquo s acquisitions were not merely about ownership but strategic positioning within Singapore&rsquo s business ecosystem. OCBC&rsquo s approach was to acquire stakes in companies it could also finance, creating business opportunities while mitigating risk by maintaining greater oversight of its borrowers.

 

His intervention had a lasting impact &mdash safeguarding jobs during a critical period for Singapore&rsquo s economy, ensuring the long-term success of these companies and reinforcing OCBC&rsquo s role in driving economic stability through strategic investments. Many of these businesses flourished, contributing significantly to the island republic&rsquo s growth.

By 2000, however, Singapore&rsquo s financial landscape was undergoing a major transformation. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) &mdash then chaired by Lee Hsien Loong before his tenure as prime minister &mdash introduced new regulations requiring banks to separate their financial and non-financial activities.

 

This restructuring mandate forced banks to divest their non-financial assets &mdash either by selling them to third parties or transferring them directly to their principal shareholders &mdash ensuring these businesses were no longer held under the financial arm of banking groups.

 

In 2008, three years after Tan passed away, his family&rsquo s investment group &mdash Tecity Group, led by his handpicked successor and granddaughter Chew Gek Khim &mdash wrested control of STC from the Lee family of OCBC Bank in a hard-fought corporate battle (see &ldquo Preserving Tan Chin Tuan&rsquo s legacy while steering Straits Trading forward&rdquo ).

 

Chew is executive chairman of Tecity, which she joined in 1987 &mdash the year STC celebrated its centennial anniversary. Tan is her maternal grandfather.

 

Fate would have it that about two decades later, Chew, then 46 years old, would spearhead Tecity in a blockbuster deal that would see it take over STC in 2008.

 

Since then, she has led STC&rsquo s transformation from a traditional tin smelting and trading house into a diversified investment conglomerate.

 

One of STC&rsquo s most ambitious undertakings is Straits City in Butterworth, Penang &mdash its largest property development project in Malaysia (and elsewhere) to date, with a gross development value (GDV) of RM4.6 billion ($1.4 billion). The 16-year integrated mixed-use development master plan, initiated in 2022, is expected to be fully completed by 2038.

 

Positioned as a long-term urban renewal initiative aimed at transforming the historic Butterworth into a dynamic and inclusive future city, the 40-acre mega project will be co-developed by Singapore-listed STC and its 51.96%-owned Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd (KL:MSC).

 

Dressed in her trademark cheongsam, the 63-year-old Chew, in an exclusive interview with The Edge Malaysia at the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City&rsquo s Wellesley Lounge overlooking the Penang Strait in Butterworth, acknowledges that the project is a major milestone even for a storied conglomerate like STC.

 

&ldquo Straits City is quite an ambitious property project for us. Our Crowne Plaza hotel, which is the first of 10 phases of our larger development project, was completed in September last year and officially opened in February this year.

 

&ldquo It&rsquo s been 17 years since we acquired STC. Like everything in life, the journey has been interesting, much like a roller-coaster ride. We had our good years and we had our bad years,&rdquo says Chew, who has been chairman of STC since April 2008, first as non-executive chairman and then as executive chairman since November 2009.

 

She is recognised as one of Asia&rsquo s top business personalities, renowned for her ability to reinvigorate heritage companies and create long-term value for stakeholders.

 

According to her, Straits City is envisioned as a smart city, integrating cutting-edge infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

 

&ldquo That&rsquo s why our tagline for this master development is Straits City, Future City. This land is essentially a white sheet &mdash we&rsquo re not constrained by outdated infrastructure, which can be challenging to work around. Starting from scratch allows us to seamlessly incorporate modern smart city elements into our project,&rdquo she says.

 

Shutting down MSC&rsquo s Butterworth smelter

For perspective, STC owns a 24-acre parcel of land in Butterworth, adjacent to MSC&rsquo s 16-acre site, on which sits a smelting plant with a history that spans more than 100 years.

Dual-listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia and the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange (SGX), MSC is one of the world&rsquo s top producers of tin and tin-based products, as well as the world&rsquo s largest independent custom tin smelter.

 

When Tecity took control of STC in 2008, the group had already owned the Butterworth land for some time. However, the parcel remained largely vacant and underutilised.

 

&ldquo In that sense, we inherited it. I wouldn&rsquo t say the land wasn&rsquo t well managed, but I think we didn&rsquo t manage it optimally. Of course, we always knew this land had potential, but it&rsquo s a very long-term game,&rdquo says Chew, a lawyer by training.

 

Meanwhile, she acknowledges the need for new technology at MSC&rsquo s Butterworth smelting plant, which has been in operation for over a century. The opportunity to acquire a distressed smelter in Klang provided a practical solution.

 

&ldquo It made sense for us to buy it [the Klang smelter]. At the same time, this area [Butterworth] is up and coming, so shutting down the old plant and redeveloping the site is the logical step forward,&rdquo says Chew, who is also chairman of MSC.

 

The decommissioning process is already in motion.

 

&ldquo Our Butterworth smelter will be demolished by the end of this year, if not May. We will be carrying out decontamination works over the next two to three years. After that, we&rsquo ll need to rehabilitate the land. So, the redevelopment of the MSC site will start no earlier than three years from now,&rdquo she explains.

 

Chew reiterates that the group will focus on developing STC&rsquo s land first before moving on to the MSC site. While the master plan spans 16 years, the actual timeline remains flexible and will be adjusted based on market demand.

 

&ldquo We need a time frame, and it&rsquo s set at 16 years. Whether we accelerate it or not will depend on market conditions, but we can always fine-tune it along the way,&rdquo she says.

 

Unlike developers racing against loan repayments, STC is in no rush to push out projects, given that the land is freehold and fully paid off.

 

&ldquo We&rsquo re not obsessed with the timeline because we already own the land. It&rsquo s not like we&rsquo re paying bank interest and worrying about rushing it. We have the luxury to manage it properly and launch our projects only when the time is right,&rdquo says Chew.

 

However, she acknowledges the risk of mistiming the market.

 

&ldquo If we launch too early, we may have to wait for demand to catch up. If we overspend or overbuild, it could go wrong too. But otherwise, we don&rsquo t see any major risk factors.&rdquo

 

The ongoing transformation of Butterworth and Seberang Perai suggests that demand may not be far behind. That&rsquo s partly due to the fact that the mainland is home to more than half of Penang&rsquo s labour force &mdash many of whom travel to the island to work &mdash while making up over two-thirds of Penang&rsquo s land mass.

 

Sunway Carnival Mall, which opened in 2007 in the town centre of Seberang Jaya, has already established itself as a major retail hub with a net lettable area (NLA) of about one million sq ft, housing 350 shops and 3,200 parking bays. Nearby, Sunway Medical Centre Penang adds to the area&rsquo s growing appeal as a commercial and healthcare destination.

 

Meanwhile, Belleview Group is developing GEM Residences, a four-tower residential project in Seberang Perai, alongside GEM Mall, which is touted to be the largest shopping mall in the northern region. With Sogo department store as its anchor tenant, the six-level mall will span 1.2 million sq ft of NLA, offering about 450 shops and over 3,800 parking bays.

 

For STC, the newly opened Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City &mdash managed by multinational hospitality giant InterContinental Hotels Group &mdash marks the first completed phase of its prime waterfront master development in Butterworth. The opening of the 23-storey, five-star hotel also signals the transformation of the Singaporean firm&rsquo s legacy assets and land bank on Penang&rsquo s mainland, setting the stage for Straits City&rsquo s growth.

 

Capturing spillover effect

Chew highlights Straits City as a landmark project designed to integrate commercial, retail and residential components, positioning it as a key business and lifestyle hub in the northern region. Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City, for instance, is already catering to rising business travel and foreign investment activity in the northern states.

 

&ldquo As luck would have it, with the US-China trade war, more businesses are coming into Penang and Kedah. There is a spillover effect from Batu Kawan and Kulim. Essentially, we see Butterworth as a hub. With what is happening here, we think it is timely for us to develop this part of Malaysia,&rdquo she remarks.

 

Chew points out that Penang Sentral &mdash a one-stop northern transport hub for trains, buses, ferries and taxis &mdash plays a crucial role in Straits City&rsquo s development, given its proximity to the first Penang Bridge.

 

She also believes it is only natural for spillover growth from Penang Island to extend into Butterworth, especially considering the price gap between the island and mainland.

With more affordable property prices, Butterworth is an attractive alternative for businesses and residents alike. In contrast, Chew notes that Batu Kawan and Kulim have fewer commercial developments, making Butterworth a more strategic hub for growth.

 

&ldquo We want to offer this element in Butterworth, and we want to complement Batu Kawan and Kulim. That&rsquo s why we are not making Straits City an industrial area and we are not building factories here. It doesn&rsquo t make sense,&rdquo she says.

 

&ldquo We want to offer some useful residential and commercial services to the people who work in those industrial areas. We hope they will come to live in Butterworth. These are the people who will come here to use our hotels, our residences, our malls.

 

&ldquo If you work in an industrial area, and you want to host a company event, you won&rsquo t have it there, you would have it here. Location-wise, we are strategically located in between Penang Island, Batu Kawan and Kulim. You could drive up or you could drive down from Butterworth.&rdquo

 

Straits City&rsquo s proximity to Penang Sentral underscores its strategic location. Chew notes that while STC always recognised the potential of its Butterworth land bank, the question was always about timing.

 

&ldquo We always thought this was a good piece of land, but the question was: When would it take off? We weren&rsquo t so sure. We had our master plan, but we were slow to push the development. Now, it looks like the timing is right,&rdquo she observes.

 

&ldquo Our sites are very near the Port of Penang and Penang Sentral. We haven&rsquo t really explored air connectivity yet, but there&rsquo s potential. Many Indonesians fly into Penang from Medan for medical tourism. As demand grows, connecting the island to the mainland is a logical extension. We are right next to Penang Island and close to the North-South Expressway.&rdquo

 

Following the completion of the Crowne Plaza hotel, STC will move on to Phase 2, for which the group plans to build serviced apartments.

 

&ldquo We plan to launch the project within a year and complete it within three years. The details are still being worked out as we are determining the right mix of units for own stay and independent living,&rdquo says Chew.

 

STC is positioning its serviced apartment project to cater primarily to professionals and workers from nearby industrial zones.

 

&ldquo Let&rsquo s say if they are working in the mainland, will they be interested in staying in our serviced apartments? As for independent living, we are hoping to attract people from Kuala Lumpur and Penang Island.

 

&ldquo Will the Singaporeans be interested? I don&rsquo t know. Perhaps they do not want to own a house anymore. Maybe they don&rsquo t want to do all the house work anymore. If they are interested in independent living, that&rsquo s something we could offer them,&rdquo she says.

 

Chew notes that as Penangites age, they may find it less necessary to live on the island, especially with more affordable options on the mainland. Similarly, KL residents looking to downsize could be another key demographic.

 

&ldquo Many of them have big houses, but their children have grown up and moved out. They may want to move into our fully serviced apartment. That&rsquo s the kind of market that I am looking at,&rdquo she says.

 

As for Phase 3, STC will be looking at commercial projects, such as offices and shopping malls.

 

&ldquo Will people be working from home? Will the offices of the future be kind of different from the stereotypical offices that we have in mind? We have to study further. As for malls, we want to offer convenience to our residents in Straits City,&rdquo says Chew.

 

Evolving with the times

In the early years of Singapore&rsquo s colonial history, STC was established to serve the region&rsquo s booming tin smelting industry. Incorporated on Nov 8, 1887, by Scottish businessman James Sword and German entrepreneur Herman Muhlinghaus, the company started with an initial capital commitment of 150,000 Straits Dollars.

 

By the 1900s, STC had built a strong reputation in tin smelting, with its Pulau Brani smelter gaining international recognition for producing some of the purest tin in the world. In 1912, &ldquo Straits Tin&rdquo accounted for two-thirds of Malaya&rsquo s tin output, with operations later carried out under MSC.

 

Over the decades, STC&rsquo s business evolved alongside the region&rsquo s economic landscape. In the 1960s, the company diversified beyond resources into property, equity investments and hospitality. This expansion set the foundation for its current structure as a conglomerate-investment company with a focus on real estate and resources.

 

One of its key real estate ventures is Straits Real Estate (SRE), which focuses on acquiring completed properties, enhancing their value and then selling them for profit. This differs from STC&rsquo s long-term property developments. At the same time, the company is exploring innovative approaches in real estate ownership, including fractionalisation. Chew explains, &ldquo We also have a real estate investment company called SRE, which we use to acquire completed buildings, add value and flip them.

 

Besides, we are also doing a small experiment, trying to fractionalise the real estate in Singapore. It is still at an early stage as we still need to go through governmental approvals. We intend to offer people a chance to own a part of real estate.&rdquo

 

She explains that fractionalisation differs from a real estate investment trust (REIT).

 

&ldquo People think fractionalisation is the same as a REIT, but they are not the same. In the REIT, you actually own a unit of a whole pool of properties. However, if you want to own a shophouse, because you really like that particular shophouse, but you cannot afford to buy the whole shophouse, fractionalisation allows you to own a part of it. That&rsquo s the idea,&rdquo says Chew.

 

She points out that since taking over STC, the group has remained in its core areas of expertise but has continuously adapted to market shifts.

 

&ldquo After we did the takeover, we have been trying to stay in the same areas. But at the same time, we have kept making changes. To give you an analogy, if you are in the food business, you would keep making foods, but the types of foods might change over time because your customers&rsquo tastes change,&rdquo she says.

 

While STC remains committed to its long-standing businesses, Chew acknowledges that the transformation is necessary.

 

&ldquo Again, it&rsquo s been an interesting journey as we have done quite a few transformations along the way. But we still stick to our main businesses. It&rsquo s just that we have been making minor changes to remain relevant,&rdquo she says.

 

&ldquo For example, in our resources division, we have our tin smelting and tin mining operations. These business activities do not change. But we find new ways or new methods of smelting and mining. And now, we are even looking at financing. So, we are expanding into related areas.&rdquo

 

STC is 66.97%-controlled by Tecity. Over the past 12 months, its share price had declined 6.62% to settle at $1.41 on March 26, giving the company a market capitalisation of $640.7 million.

 

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022), STC posted a record profit of $551.26 million &mdash the highest since Tecity&rsquo s takeover. The group, however, slipped into the red with net losses of $28.6 million in FY2023 and $7.2 million in FY2024. This was partly due to fair value loss from the derivative component of exchangeable bonds, as well as weaker performance in its tin smelting segment.

 

MSC&rsquo s tin smelting division reported a lower profit of RM23.4 million in FY2024, a year-on-year decline of 35% from RM36 million in FY2023. The lower profitability and reduced sales of refined tin derived from processed tin intermediates were mainly due to lower incoming feed as a result of China&rsquo s accumulation and stockpiling of tin ore, as well as foreign exchange fluctuations, given the strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar.

 

Nevertheless, STC continued to pay dividends of eight Singapore cents per share in FY2023 and FY2024. Cumulatively, it has paid dividends totalling $4.30 per share since Tecity took over the company in 2008.

 

STC has invested in a diverse portfolio of real assets around the world for customers across industries. Its Malaysian properties include 1 Mont Kiara Mall in KL, AEON Bandaraya in Melaka, Ipoh Parade Mall in Perak, as well as Klang Parade Mall and Citta Mall in Selangor.

 

Meanwhile, its overseas properties include business parks and retail parks in the UK, offices and logistics properties in Australia, shopping malls in China, as well as state-of-the-art modern logistics facilities in South Korea.

 

As at Dec 31 last year, SRE&rsquo s cumulative assets under management amounted to $2.047 billion. Its portfolio occupancy rate was maintained at 88.9% through proactive leasing.

 

Preserving Tan Chin Tuan&rsquo s legacy while steering Straits Trading forward

 

Singapore-listed The Straits Trading Co (STC), a member of the Tecity Group, was founded by the late Tan Sri Dr Tan Chin Tuan, the man credited with shaping Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) into one of the world&rsquo s soundest banks in the 1980s.

 

Beyond his influence in banking, Tan was a firm believer in lifelong learning &mdash a principle he upheld throughout his life. Born in 1908, he passed away in 2005, leaving behind not just a financial empire but also a deeply rooted value system.

 

In an exclusive interview with The Edge Malaysia, STC executive chairman Chew Gek Khim, his granddaughter, reflects on her time with him and the lessons imparted that continue to guide her leadership.

 

&ldquo I lived with him. We were in the same house, a multigenerational home. I learnt from him &hellip simply by spending time with him. I listened, I absorbed and I picked things up,&rdquo she recalls.

 

According to Forbes magazine, Chew and her family were the 35th richest in Singapore with a net worth of S$1.39 billion in 2024.

 

At STC&rsquo s helm since 2008, she remains steadfast in upholding the principles instilled by Tan, who was not just her grandfather but also her mentor.

 

&ldquo Our company&rsquo s mission is to create value for all stakeholders and to learn in the process. Whatever we do must be valuable to our customers, shareholders and partners. That is the underlying philosophy,&rdquo she says.

 

&ldquo We must do things properly, with integrity, and treat people fairly. We keep learning. We don&rsquo t just repeat the same thing every day. We grow, we gain experience and we don&rsquo t make the same mistakes twice.&rdquo

 

While many successors of Asian family businesses struggle with the weight of expectations, Chew insists she does not feel pressured.

 

&ldquo Not really. Pressure is something we impose on ourselves. A legacy is essentially a value system &mdash it&rsquo s something we continue. If we believe in it, there&rsquo s no real pressure. You either live by the values, or you don&rsquo t. To me, it&rsquo s straightforward: We create value, and we learn. That&rsquo s it. How much pressure is that?&rdquo

 

She credits her grandfather with shaping her perspective on success and failure, recalling a particularly impactful lesson.

 

&ldquo He once told me, &lsquo You know, Khim, it&rsquo s okay to fail. You just have to pick yourself up and carry on.&rsquo That was one of the most important pieces of advice he ever gave me. Since then, I&rsquo ve learnt to accept that there will be good times and bad times, and that has made me feel less pressure.&rdquo

 

At the core of it all, she believes one must have conviction in one&rsquo s work. While pressure is inevitable in business &mdash after all, no one starts a venture with the intention of losing money &mdash what truly matters is navigating challenges with resilience. There will always be frustrations when things do not go as planned, but that is simply part of the journey, she says.

 

Traditional wisdom in modern business

Contrary to the belief that family businesses are outdated, Chew argues that many traditional principles remain relevant today.

 

&ldquo I don&rsquo t see much difference. You can&rsquo t say family business is old-fashioned. Many modern business practices are just rebranded versions of what was done in the past,&rdquo she points out.

 

&ldquo Today, people talk about diversity, inclusion and equality. But actually, this is just common sense. If you want different perspectives, you hire people from different backgrounds. Without diversity, everyone will think the same way, and the outcome will either be very right or very wrong.&rdquo

 

Chew believes that a company will operate more prudently with a range of viewpoints.

 

&ldquo If I say, &lsquo Hey everyone, I think we should do it this way&rsquo , and someone else challenges me, &lsquo Khim, have you thought about this?&rsquo &mdash that&rsquo s the kind of diversity that helps us make more calibrated decisions.&rdquo

 

She also sees parallels between modern corporate principles and fundamental business ethics that have existed for generations, particularly in environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices.

 

&ldquo Many think ESG is a modern idea, but it&rsquo s not. Old-fashioned companies already understood these principles. They were looking after the environment long before it became part of the corporate agenda. In the past, people recycled like nobody&rsquo s business, simply because they couldn&rsquo t afford to waste.&rdquo

 

Chew points out that in the past, wealthy families and clans in Singapore and Malaysia naturally gave back to society, understanding that social harmony depended on it.

&ldquo When you make money, naturally you want to help people. Otherwise, you will have violence and unhappiness in society,&rdquo she says.

 

Likewise, good governance is just common sense, she argues. &ldquo You don&rsquo t take company money to go shopping and gambling. That&rsquo s not good business. If you run a business, you can&rsquo t take money from your shop for personal use.&rdquo

 

At STC, whose roots lie in colonial-era Singapore, Chew&rsquo s focus is on ensuring the 138-year-old company remains adaptable and forward-looking.

 

&ldquo My main job is to make sure STC stays relevant. Take real estate &mdash can I make it more relevant? That&rsquo s why we&rsquo re exploring fractional ownership. Will people like it? We don&rsquo t know yet. Similarly, we&rsquo re looking into independent living for seniors.

 

&ldquo As for our subsidiary Malaysia Smelting Corp Bhd (KL:MSC), the company is in mining and smelting &mdash we don&rsquo t want to use technology that&rsquo s 100 years old. If there are new, more efficient and environmentally friendly methods, why stick to outdated ones?&rdquo

 

Rather than setting a rigid end goal for STC, Chew prioritises sustainability and succession planning. &ldquo I don&rsquo t have an ultimate goal for STC. But if it can be sustainable and continue creating value, that will be ideal. A succession plan must always be in place, but it depends on where we are at that point.

 

&ldquo Right now, we have many professionals running the business, and that&rsquo s perfectly fine. Whether family members take over in the future depends on competence. We have to groom people, whether they are from the family or not.&rdquo

 

She acknowledges that while shareholders must safeguard their interests, that does not mean interfering unnecessarily. She goes on to say that effective leadership should be given the space to operate, but if performance falters, intervention becomes necessary. The priority is ensuring the company remains in capable hands.

 

Despite being born in an era of traditional values, Tan was ahead of his time, says Chew. &ldquo He was a very modern person for his era. You have to understand, he was born in 1908, when it was common for men to have multiple wives and to believe women didn&rsquo t need education.

 

&ldquo But my grandfather had only one wife, and he ensured all his children &mdash boys and girls &mdash were educated. My mother became a doctor and an eye surgeon. He was very progressive.&rdquo

 

According to her, Tan also embraced societal shifts, particularly women&rsquo s participation in the workforce.

 

&ldquo He told me that before World War II, women didn&rsquo t work. But after the war, when many men had died, women entered the workforce &mdash and he found them to be excellent employees.

 

&ldquo He hired his first female secretary after the war. As the world evolved, so did his mindset, and that&rsquo s something I learnt from him.&rdquo

 

The STC takeover &mdash fulfilling a promise

One of Chew&rsquo s most defining business moves &mdash taking over STC in 2008 &mdash was deeply influenced by her grandfather&rsquo s vision.

 

By the early 2000s, Singapore&rsquo s banking regulations forced financial institutions to separate their banking and non-banking assets, leading OCBC to divest its stakes in companies Tan had strategically acquired for the bank.

 

This dismantling of a carefully crafted business empire, to him, was more than just regulatory compliance &mdash it meant losing control over businesses that had been integral to Singapore&rsquo s economic growth. Seeing these assets sold off to third parties was not just frustrating, but also painful.

 

Against this backdrop, Tan urged Chew to &ldquo buy at least one of my companies&rdquo . While he did not specify which company, the takeover of STC in 2008 was an opportunity to preserve at least part of what he had built.

 

&ldquo He told me, &lsquo Keep something&rsquo . That&rsquo s part of the reason we bought STC,&rdquo she says.

 

Chew reveals that her earlier attempts to acquire other companies were not successful. &ldquo I tried to buy Robinson & Co [in 2006], but I failed. I tried to buy United Engineers, but I failed. I tried to buy Raffles Hotel [in 2005], but I failed. But when the opportunity to acquire STC arose, I succeeded &mdash it was opportunistic, and there was a bidding war.&rdquo

 

Through her family&rsquo s investment vehicle Tecity, she made an offer to acquire STC in early 2008, triggering a high-profile bidding war with the wealthy Lee family, the founders of OCBC.

 

The Lee family&rsquo s patriarch, the late Tan Sri Lee Kong Chian, is today known as the founding father of OCBC. He was the son-in-law of Chinese community leader and philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, who introduced him to the rubber industry. Lee subsequently founded Lee Rubber Co, which became the biggest rubber planter in Southeast Asia.

 

Likewise, Chew&rsquo s grandfather Tan, nicknamed &ldquo Mr OCBC&rdquo , was a towering figure in banking, having played a pivotal role in shaping OCBC&rsquo s growth and Singapore&rsquo s financial landscape. He was also the paternal uncle of Tony Tan Keng Yam, another OCBC banker and politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore from 2011 to 2017.

 

In January 2008, Tecity &mdash spearheaded by Chew &mdash held about 26% of STC. At the time, the Lee family owned about 7.1% of STC directly and held another 25% through OCBC and its affiliate, Great Eastern Holdings .

 

The fight for STC began on Jan 6, 2008, when Tecity made an initial offer of S5.70 per share, valuing the commodity and property firm at $1.86 billion. In response, the Lee family countered with a higher bid of $5.76 apiece before raising it to $6.55 per share, escalating the battle for control over one of Singapore&rsquo s oldest trading houses, whose assets spanned metals trading, hotels, properties and one of the world&rsquo s largest tin smelters.

 

Over the next two months, Singapore watched as two of its most prominent banking families &mdash both closely linked to OCBC &mdash went head-to-head over STC. The bidding war culminated when Tecity raised its offer to $6.70 per share, an 18% premium over its initial bid, pushing STC&rsquo s valuation to $2.18 billion.

 

In March 2008, citing market volatility, the Lee family finally withdrew its bid and decided to accept Tecity&rsquo s rival offer. OCBC&rsquo s insurance arm Great Eastern subsequently sold its 19% stake in STC to Tecity.

 

With the Lee family conceding defeat, Chew secured an 89% stake in STC, cementing her control over the company.

 

Although Tan passed away in 2005 at the age of 96, three years before the STC takeover, his words stayed with Chew.

 

&ldquo When you build something and see it being dismantled, it&rsquo s painful. It&rsquo s like building an entire Lego city, only to watch it taken apart &mdash you&rsquo d naturally want to keep something,&rdquo she says.

 

When asked whether her grandfather would have been proud of her efforts, Chew remains pragmatic.

 

&ldquo I don&rsquo t know about that,&rdquo she laughs. &ldquo But at least I did what he asked me to do. I am still managing it. Maybe that&rsquo s my legacy. Perhaps it&rsquo s not such a heavyweight [compared with his legacy]. Is [the takeover of STC] really that great? Maybe not. But I did what he asked.&rdquo

 

For Chew, preserving a legacy is not about nostalgia or pressure &mdash it&rsquo s about principles, adaptability and creating lasting value. And as long as STC continues to evolve while staying true to its core values, she believes her grandfather&rsquo s legacy will remain very much alive.

 

The Straits Trading Company (STC), like its property-focused peers, is &ldquo interested&rdquo in opportunities in Johor, says Eric Teng, group chief operating officer.

 

This is especially true after Singapore and Malaysia jointly launched the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) in January.

 

However, Teng says he is &ldquo mindful&rdquo that there are &ldquo three-and-a-half governments&rdquo running the JS-SEZ. &ldquo The first government is Singapore. The second government is the Malaysian federal government and the Johor state government is the third.&rdquo

 

That leaves the &ldquo half-government&rdquo , which, according to Teng, is the Malaysian king Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar and his family. &ldquo There are a lot of dynamics there it&rsquo s not exactly a Singapore place, per se. We&rsquo ll take our time, but we are definitely keen and we&rsquo ll see how it evolves because, territorially speaking, both countries are very close, but, of course, we cannot ignore that.&rdquo

 

Teng took several questions about STC&rsquo s plans and operations in Penang, which have evolved from resources to property, during the company&rsquo s FY2024 ended Dec 31, 2024 results briefing on March 7.

 

STC is decommissioning its century-old tin smelter located in Butterworth in mainland Penang. This will be completed in 2H2025.

 

STC&rsquo s dual-listed subsidiary Malaysia Smelting Corporation Berhad (MSC) has moved its tin smelting operations down south to Pulau Indah in Port Klang. With the new plant, MSC expects to benefit from lower operational and manpower costs and energy-saving initiatives while reducing its overall carbon footprint.

 

On the site of the former smelting plant, STC envisions a new central business district (CBD).

 

STC Property Management (STCPM) is spearheading the development of Straits City, a 40- acre CBD project that the company believes is &ldquo strategically located&rdquo to benefit from Penang&rsquo s growth as a global semiconductor manufacturing hub and Malaysia&rsquo s 2025 budget, which prioritises infrastructure investment and digitalisation.

 

STC adds that infrastructure developments, including the expansion of Penang International Airport and the construction of Penang Light Rail Transit, are expected to boost tourism and create economic opportunities.

 

After years of waiting, the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City hotel opened last August, marking the completion of Straits City&rsquo s first phase. The hotel is a 23-storey mixed-use development with 343 rooms. It also features a retail podium with a net lettable area of 42,000 sq ft and meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibition (MICE) facilities.

 

The full 10-phase Straits City development is expected to be completed by 2038.

 

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&ldquo STCPM is now continuing to work towards our longer-term goal, which is to develop our Straits City future city project into a 40-acre smart and sustainable mixed-use development, integrating residential, office, retail and hospitality elements,&rdquo says senior investment manager Ng Kong Chiat.

 

Beyond the projects already announced, STC deputy chief investment officer Yeo Eng Kwang says his team is &ldquo definitely&rdquo looking at &ldquo exciting things&rdquo like &ldquo independent living, brown-to-green opportunities and ways to collaborate with third-party people to co-invest in funds&rdquo .

 

Teng, who is also CEO of Straits Developments, sees a great opportunity to enter the senior independent living business. &ldquo It&rsquo s a great megatrend, something that everyone can seize and do well, and certainly, we intend to do it well and do it globally if we can. We will give more details when we have furnished out the plans.&rdquo

 

Tan Hwei Yee, CEO of STCPM, does not see an overlap with Far East Hospitality Holdings, the group&rsquo s 30%-owned hospitality platform. &ldquo We are really targeting that baby boomer generation who is demanding more lifestyle needs. So, it&rsquo s really way beyond just providing accommodation.&rdquo

 

Tan, who is also head of property at Straits Developments, adds: &ldquo Because they have higher affordability, these are the people who want to enjoy life so that whole package of independent living is going to be a little bit different from a typical hotel.&rdquo

 

In FY2024, STC posted a shallower loss after tax and non-controlling interests of $7.2 million, improving from a $28.6 million loss in FY2023.

 

FY2024 ebitda rose 56.6% y-o-y to $124.4 million while profit after tax swung into the black to $11.0 million from a loss after tax of $12.1 million in FY2023.

 

For the full year, STC posted a loss per share of 1.6 cents, improving from a loss per share of 6.4 cents in FY2023.

 

The positive performance was primarily attributable to improved profitability across its three segments: resources, property and hospitality. STC also booked higher net fair value gains from Straits Real Estate&rsquo s investment properties in Australia, South Korea and the UK.

 

STC&rsquo s board has proposed an interim dividend of 8 cents per share, flat y-o-y.