KUALA LUMPUR (June 25): From founding Common Ground to merging their coworking business with two regional brands — the Hive from Hong Kong and The Cluster from Melbourne, Australia — to create The Flexi Group, one of the largest flexible workspace operators in Asia-Pacific, directors Juhn Teo and Erman Akinci talks to City & Country about the group’s potential Nasdaq listing and their plans to grow the business with an aim to operate at least 10 venues per city in the region.
“Even before Covid-19, we were looking at ways to grow organically. We saw great opportunities in the whole region, not just Southeast Asia, but Asia-Pacific [as well]. So we spent a number of years talking to several other operators in the region about some kind of merger,” said Teo.
One of the group’s growth strategies is consolidating a fragmented flexible workspace industry across the globe, including Asia-Pacific, North America, the Middle East and Europe. “There’s just a multitude of small- to mid-sized operators that have under six venues, and our strategy is to grow through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with these amazing operators, to create a global company with brands that would allow for further differentiation in local markets,” said Erman.
In the same issue, KIP Real Estate Investment Trust (KIP REIT)’s new executive director Valerie Ong Pui Shan tells us her plans and strategy in leading the business to a RM1.5 billion portfolio, and Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) voices its concerns over the expected surge of foreign contractors moving in to take part in the country’s construction industry’s post Covid-19 pandemic.
We also feature a colonial-style terraced house on Upper East Coast Road in District 16, Singapore, that will be put up for auction on June 28 by its owner, and marketed by Knight Frank at a starting guide price of S$2.88 million or about S$2,200 psf.
Read all about it in the June 26, 2023 issue of City & Country, out with The Edge Malaysia weekly.
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