This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 25, 2024 - December 1, 2024

City & Country met up with Datuk Jeffrey Ng, a well-liked veteran in the real estate industry, at Wisma Rehda in Petaling Jaya for a photoshoot and interview, as Ng is a recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to the Real Estate Industry award at The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards 2024.

Skimming through a set of handwritten notes, he comments that the prep questions sent to him in advance have made him reflect on the past. “These are things that, when you’re busy, you don’t think about. And when I saw your questions, I started to reflect. I think it’ll come up to be quite interesting,” he says with a light chuckle.

A familiar face in the industry, Ng has close to 40 years of extensive experience in finance, corporate planning and executive management in the property and hotel industries in Malaysia and Australia.

He is chairman of Rehda Institute, a panel member of the appeal board under the Federal Territory (Planning) Act 1982, an adviser of the Malaysian REIT Managers Association (MRMA) and an industry adviser of University Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Faculty of Accountancy and Management — Master of Real Estate Development. He is also founder and director of Urban Hallmark Properties Sdn Bhd.

Having retired as CEO of Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Sunway REIT) (KL:SUNREIT) and chairman of United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd last year at the age of 66, he now sits on the boards of Ayer Holdings Bhd (KL:AYER) and CapitaLand Malaysia Trust (KL:CLMT) as an independent non-executive director.

He says his recent appointments have been a big but satisfying change from his former professional life. “It’s a big change because, for the longest time, it has always been work, whereas now I can actually go out for lunch, have breakfast with my wife and spend time with family members. It’s more free and easy now; so, I would say it’s a satisfying change.”

Ng has had an illustrious career full of impressive achievements. His past positions have included president of Rehda Malaysia, chairman and immediate past chairman of MRMA, chairman of Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) Malaysian Chapter, chairman of Rehda Wilayah Persekutuan (KL) Branch, vice-chairman of Malaysia Australia Business Council (MABC), vice-president and secretary general of Fiabci Malaysian Chapter (International Real Estate Federation), vice-president and secretary general of Malaysian Association of Hotel Owners (MAHO), director of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), managing director of Asia Pacific Land Bhd (AP Land), executive director of Sunway City Bhd (now Sunway City Sdn Bhd) and chairman of Sunway Lagoon Club Bhd.

A member of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Ng has received numerous accolades throughout his years of service. He was conferred the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri by the state of Penang in 1999, named Entrepreneur of the Year by MABC in 2003, made a patron of Rehda in 2009, named Rehda Personality of the Year in 2015 and received The Asset’s Best CEO — Property award in 2018.

According to Ng, real estate was never part of his plan at the start. The fellow chartered accountant of Australia and New Zealand, who completed his professional articleship in Touche Ross (now Deloitte) Australia, had initially had his sights set on something else. “My ambition was to become a partner in the management consultancy division because I was very interested in business valuations. Real estate never came into the picture.”

But fate had other plans for him, as his uncle, the late Tan Sri Low Yow Chuan, who was at the time chairman of Low Yat Group, called Ng back to Malaysia to join the company as head of internal audit for the hotel division. A year later and still in his 20s, Ng became an executive director of the group.

“The opportunity given to me was a really incredible exposure to corporate management and the whole spectrum from property development to investment. I’m talking about shopping malls, hotels, mixed-use developments, terraced houses and shoplot developments.

“Also, as part and parcel of that business, I was involved in corporate finance and project financing — fundamentally, the ecosystem of corporate management in a public-listed company environment. That was how I was very much entrenched in the real estate industry.”

A notable project Ng was involved in was the City Square Centre development in Jalan Tun Razak in the city centre. The development, which has since been redeveloped into The Intermark, was one of the country’s first integrated developments comprising the Empire Tower office building, the City Square Shopping Centre and the Crown Princess hotel.

“These were the legacies that I was exposed to as the right-hand man of Tan Sri Low Yow Chuan — basically, the A to Z of the property industry, except for industrial properties. It was a learning curve,” he says.

For Ng, industrial properties came into the picture only much later, specifically in the last decade of his career at Sunway REIT.

“As a diversified REIT, we had hotels, shopping malls, offices, universities and hospitals. It was only in the last seven to eight years that we started to buy into it and [had to] really understand the market dynamics of industrial properties. So, even as a senior person in Sunway’s management team, there were still things to learn. And we managed to buy a few properties that all yielded quite well.”

Ng is a firm believer in lifelong learning, which he has done through the years. “This is important because property market dynamics change and evolve very fast; the only way to grasp what is happening is through continuous education. I’m convinced that it doesn’t matter how old you are — so long as you want to remain relevant, you have to keep learning.”

There are also things that can be learnt only through having good mentors. For Ng, they were his bosses. “Other than my Australian boss when I was working in Australia, I’ve had only two bosses in my [real estate] career — Tan Sri Low and Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah. When it comes to vision and entrepreneurship, both Tan Sris are right up there. They can visualise things that, it’s fair to say, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to. And I was very lucky to be able to learn under them.”

After his stint as managing director of AP Land and a senior executive director of the Low Yat Group, Ng set up Urban Hallmark Properties, whose inaugural project was a boutique residential development called Zephyr Point in Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur. He was executive director of Sunway City then.

“I was in a very privileged position in both organisations, where I was also allowed to do my own thing. Maybe when you’re young, you’re more ambitious. So, I saw an opportunity when Danaharta was auctioning their land and I bought it [and the plot next to it] and developed Zephyr Point,” says Ng.

“It was a very low-profile project but offered something [unique] to the market. The project was very well received and very meaningful to me.”

Zephyr Point is a high-end, highly exclusive, gated and guarded development with only seven units — three penthouses of between 10,000 and 11,500 sq ft, and four 3-storey villas with built-ups from 8,000 to 9,500 sq ft. Each unit comes with a private home office of between 200 and 350 sq ft located on a dedicated floor, which overlooks a gym and pool. The development was completed in 2010.

For Ng, Zephyr Point was also an opportunity to explore a build-then-sell project. “When I started this project, I was Rehda president, and a very hot topic then at the ministry’s level and among stakeholders was build-then-sell. I wanted to walk the talk and look at how difficult it was to do such a project; so, that’s what I did. And, so, when I have discussions with stakeholders, I know the ins and outs of what works and what doesn’t.”

The offer Ng received to head Sunway’s REIT division was, as he calls it, “a second bite at the cherry, back into corporate management”.

“Except that in this case, it was to do with real estate fund management,” he says. “When the REIT was listed, the asset size was just under RM3.5 billion. When I left last year, it was slightly over RM9 billion. Basically, I saw the asset move the way it did. And what was very satisfying to me was that it remained as the top three funds in terms of market capitalisation and total assets under management throughout the 13 years I was there.”

Another milestone for Ng occurred when he was chairman and independent director of UOB Malaysia. “I was CEO of Sunway REIT when I was approached by the then CEO of UOB Malaysia to join the bank. I told Tan Sri Jeffrey about the offer and, again, I was given the leeway to join the board and was the audit committee chairman. I was holding two positions.”

After 4½ years as audit committee chairman, Ng took up the post of chairman at UOB Malaysia. “Why was it meaningful? One, in my nine years there, UOB became one of the best-performing foreign banks in Malaysia. Also, I was able to relate the real estate aspects of risk management and general compliance and see the highly rigorous banking industry side of things. And it was very meaningful because I had the opportunity to be involved at the board level.”

In the early 2000s, Ng was in an enviable position where he would become successor to the captains of three NGOs he was serving. “I was then vice-chairman of MAHO and was supposed to succeed Datuk Khadar Merican. At the same time, I was vice-chairman at MABC and was supposed to succeed Datuk Zain Yusoff. Then, in Rehda Malaysia, I was identified to succeed Tan Sri Eddy Chen as president.

“Obviously, the reality was that there was no way I could choose all three; so, I had to choose one. By right, the choice should have been one that I would enjoy the most and, to a certain extent, was not necessarily going to be hard work. But after thinking it through, I decided it would be Rehda because it [liaises] with the biggest stakeholder community, and especially the government. Again, it gives a sense of challenge, and it’s an NGO that represents the voice of the industry.”

Ng was Rehda president from 2002 to 2006 and has remained in the national council as past president. He later succeeded Chen as Rehda Institute chairman, a position he has since held.

“At Rehda Institute, which I call the talent development provider for the real estate industry, we teach a full spectrum of stakeholders and professionals that are part and parcel of the industry through the three pillars of education, events and training, and research. [And after] a lot of blood, sweat and tears, we’ve now churned out our fourth [property industry] report. I’m very proud to be associated with Rehda Institute, and to be able to teach and learn at the association.”

Ng continues to forge ahead in building on the legacy of knowledge that he intends to leave behind for future generations.

“I don’t have an empire or conglomerate to hand over because I come from professional management. My children are also not interested in continuing my personal development business. So, I might as well put my 40 years’ experience into Rehda Institute for talent development and pass it on to a very large spectrum of stakeholders who are interested in real estate development.

“This, to me, is nation building and how I connect the dots between what I’ve been doing for 40 years and what I’m doing today under Rehda Institute.”

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