This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 24, 2025 - March 30, 2025

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 Ltd (OCBC) from 1966 to 1983, was fondly known as “Mr OCBC”. 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’s financial muscle and his vision, Tan moved decisively to acquire several multinational corporations (MNCs), including diversified group Straits Trading Company Ltd (STC), Raffles Hotel, retailer Robinson & Co, property conglomerate United Engineers Ltd (UEL), as well as beverage giant Fraser and Neave Ltd (F&N), which eventually became some of Singapore’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’s acquisitions were not merely about ownership but strategic positioning within Singapore’s business ecosystem. OCBC’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 — safeguarding jobs during a critical period for Singapore’s economy, ensuring the long-term success of these companies and reinforcing OCBC’s role in driving economic stability through strategic investments. Many of these businesses flourished, contributing significantly to the island republic’s growth.

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

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

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

Chew is executive chairman of Tecity, which she joined in 1987 — 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’s transformation from a traditional tin smelting and trading house into a diversified investment conglomerate.

One of STC’s most ambitious undertakings is Straits City in Butterworth, Penang — its largest property development project in Malaysia (and elsewhere) to date, with a gross development value (GDV) of RM4.6 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 at the Crowne Plaza Penang Straits City’s Wellesley Lounge overlooking the Penang Strait in Butterworth, acknowledges that the project is a major milestone even for a storied conglomerate like STC.

“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.

“It’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,” 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’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.

“That’s why our tagline for this master development is Straits City, Future City. This land is essentially a white sheet — we’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,” she says.

For perspective, STC owns a 24-acre parcel of land in Butterworth, adjacent to MSC’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’s top producers of tin and tin-based products, as well as the world’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.

“In that sense, we inherited it. I wouldn’t say the land wasn’t well managed, but I think we didn’t manage it optimally. Of course, we always knew this land had potential, but it’s a very long-term game,” says Chew, a lawyer by training.

Meanwhile, she acknowledges the need for new technology at MSC’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.

“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,” says Chew, who is also chairman of MSC.

The decommissioning process is already in motion.

“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’ll need to rehabilitate the land. So, the redevelopment of the MSC site will start no earlier than three years from now,” she explains.

Chew reiterates that the group will focus on developing STC’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.

“We need a time frame, and it’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,” 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.

“We’re not obsessed with the timeline because we already own the land. It’s not like we’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,” says Chew.

However, she acknowledges the risk of mistiming the market.

“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’t see any major risk factors.”

The ongoing transformation of Butterworth and Seberang Perai suggests that demand may not be far behind. That’s partly due to the fact that the mainland is home to more than half of Penang’s labour force — many of whom travel to the island to work — while making up over two-thirds of Penang’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’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 — managed by multinational hospitality giant InterContinental Hotels Group — 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’s legacy assets and land bank on Penang’s mainland, setting the stage for Straits City’s growth.

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.

“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,” she remarks.

Chew points out that Penang Sentral — a one-stop northern transport hub for trains, buses, ferries and taxis — plays a crucial role in Straits City’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.

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

“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.

“If you work in an industrial area, and you want to host a company event, you won’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.”

Straits City’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.

“We always thought this was a good piece of land, but the question was: When would it take off? We weren’t so sure. We had our master plan, but we were slow to push the development. Now, it looks like the timing is right,” she observes.

“Our sites are very near the Port of Penang and Penang Sentral. We haven’t really explored air connectivity yet, but there’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.”

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

“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,” says Chew.

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

“Let’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.

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

“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’s the kind of market that I am looking at,” she says.

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

“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,” says Chew.

In the early years of Singapore’s colonial history, STC was established to serve the region’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, “Straits Tin” accounted for two-thirds of Malaya’s tin output, with operations later carried out under MSC.

Over the decades, STC’s business evolved alongside the region’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 Pte Ltd (SRE), which focuses on acquiring completed properties, enhancing their value and then selling them for profit. This differs from STC’s long-term property developments. At the same time, the company is exploring innovative approaches in real estate ownership, including fractionalisation.

Chew explains, “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.”

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

“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’s the idea,” 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.

“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’ tastes change,” she says.

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

“Again, it’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’s just that we have been making minor changes to remain relevant,” she says.

“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.”

STC is 66.97%-controlled by Tecity. Over the past 12 months, its share price had declined 5% to settle at S$1.43 last Friday, giving the company a market capitalisation of S$644.7 million.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022), STC posted a record profit of S$551.26 million — the highest since Tecity’s takeover. The group, however, slipped into the red with net losses of S$28.6 million in FY2023 and S$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’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’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 S$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’s cumulative assets under management amounted to S$2.047 billion. Its portfolio occupancy rate was maintained at 88.9% through proactive leasing.

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