Donald Trump gives a thumbs-up as he poses with Tiah Joo Kim, left, CEO and president of Holborn Group, upon arrival to announce the building of Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver in downtown Vancouver, Canada. (File Photo | AP)
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian property developer Tiah Joo Kim got way more than he bargained for when he signed a licensing deal to use the Trump brand on the Trump International Hotel and Tower that is opening this week in the Canadian city of Vancouver.
Prices for condominiums in the sleek 69-story building designed by one of Canada's top architects have set records. But police are expecting protests by many who object to having a major Trump-branded property as a city landmark when the president's two oldest sons officially open the tower on Tuesday.
Joo Kim's Holborn Development struck the licensing deal before Trump's political ascent. He says he's now "locked" into his licensing agreement, with no legal grounds to back out of the deal, whose terms have not been released.
"There would be severe legal implications," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
Joo Kim, 37, is the son of tycoon Tony Tiah Thee Kian, one of Malaysia's richest men and a staunch Christian who built his fortune in stockbroking in the 1990s before expanding into real estate. Groomed to inherit the family business, last year Joo Kim was appointed CEO of its property arm TA Global. He also runs the Canadian-based Holborn Group.
Raised in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, he studied at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned a master's degree in international business at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
When he set the deal with Trump in 2013, Joo Kim was banking on the staying power and cachet of his brand.
"I wanted a brand that would get me a lot of attention so that the public would, in turn, be impressed with me knowing I am responsible for the product," Joo Kim told the Malaysian newspaper The Star in an interview last year.
He has a picture on Instagram of himself at Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, along with a picture of his ticket for the Liberty Ball, one of three balls the president attended.
Joo Kim has profited from the partnership: TA Global reported it earned $10.4 million from the Vancouver Trump project in 2015, representing 57 percent of its total profit.
But in his recent interview with the AP, Joo Kim says he found Trump's statements about Muslims, Mexicans and women "extremely stressful."
"I did a lot of soul-searching because people were attacking me for it," said Joo Kim.
The Tiah family has endured setbacks and criticism before.
In 1999, Joo Kim's father, who is now 70, was charged with abetting a businessman to defraud another brokerage, Omega Securities. In 2002, he was convicted on a reduced charge of providing a false report to the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange. He resigned as head of his financial firm, TA Enterprise.
The elder Tiah made a comeback in 2009 with the listing of his property arm, TA Global.
The family are devout Christians in a majority Muslim country: Joo Kim's father often preaches at Christian events.
Joo Kim says he chose the Trump brand in part because he felt a bond with Trump's son Donald Jr. "We're both the oldest son and our fathers were really dominant and difficult at times," he said.
"We may be OK financially but we didn't get the attention of our parents because our parents were always busy working. But at the same time there's a big expectation to be perfect."
Calvin continues...
TA Later Spin Off TA Global as a very successful Reit. And Joo Kim is the CEO of TA Global.
In years to come with the partnership of President Donald Trump TA ENTERPRIZE (Through TA Global) will continue to grow & grow.
You see, Malaysia with a small population of 30 millions is too small a country. That's why Robert Kuok in his Memoir said that he could only grow horizontally as there is not enough depth in the Malaysian Market. As soon as he started sugar venture he finds limitation & saturation in Malaysia. Same goes for his flour business. He said he can only swim sideway but not down. So Robert expanded to Hong Kong, China & now Worldwide through Wilmar.
So there is a good future for TA through TA Global. Of course TA Global has lots of borrowings in its balance sheet. Never mind. These debts are good debts as they are backed by Valuable Worldwide Assets & also about half a Billion investment in securities.
See even Singapore Govt borrowed lots of monies from CPF (Central Provident Fund) and invested Worldwide to generate higher rate of income - like student hostels in Germany, Health Care in Malaysia. Spore Govt also own the very successful JOHOR CITYSQUARE, Spore SMRT & other income generating recession proof assets.
See
S’pore’s debt to GDP: more than 240%?
Singapore: More than 240% of GDP?
As to “Singapore has the largest debt load in Southeast Asia, but the city-state is also one of the world’s wealthiest countries, with households holding assets worth $1.1 trillion under one estimate” – does it mean that Singapore’s overall debt load may be more than 240 percent of GDP?
With regard to “China’s total debt likely reached around 258 percent of the economy’s size last year, up from 158 percent in 2005” – does it mean that Singapore’s total debt to GDP may be almost as much as China’s 258 percent, since it may already be higher than Malaysia’s 240 percent of GDP?
In this connection, according to the article “Pulled back in – The world is entering a third stage of a rolling debt crisis, this time centred on emerging markets” (The Economist, Nov 13, 2015)
S’pore’s private debt highest at 250% of GDP?
- – The chart shows that Singapore has the highest “emerging market private debt as % of GDP”, at about 250% of GDP, amongst the 14 countries shown in the chart.
Of course I am not advocating piling on debt carelessly in consumption. But careful use of debt for investment will amplify your income. Debt for consumption should be avoided. As well as debt for reckless speculation or gambling is a no no!
And why TA is so different today compared to the time of the Asian Financial Crisis?
What happened then?
At the bottom of the Asian Financial collapse when Anwar Ibrahim told Banks not to lend out money for 3 months many companies were insolvent. Only TA has CASH - YES PURE CASH - RM1,000,000,000 (ONE BILLIONS IN CASH).
Jason told me TSVT went to see him to borrow money then. But TA was then on a frugal cost cutting mission. Some how Dr. M saved TSVT finally. And you can witness to this day how TSVT happily celebrated the Birthday of Dr M (who also spurned IMF & imposed Capital Control)
And the surprising thing today is this
BOTH TA & BJ CORP INVEST HEAVILY INTO FOREIGN REAL ESTATES. AND BOTH BORROW TO INVEST. TA THROUGH TA GLOBAL & BJ CORP THROUGH BJ LAND
Now back to TA (Story of Bj Corp will be another post another time later)
So TA is both a Security Firm buffered by ASSETS just as INSAS is buffered by INARI. Both have inbuilt stability
And the future of both TA & TA GLOBAL IS BRIGHT See how
TONY IS BUYING UP TA GLOBAL SHARES NON STOP
| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 25-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 505,500 | 0.374 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 24-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 550,000 | 0.370 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 22-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 630,000 | 0.366 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 19-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 750,000 | 0.368 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 18-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 1,023,800 | 0.379 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 17-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 900,000 | 0.385 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 16-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 937,700 | 0.383 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 15-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 800,000 | 0.383 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 12-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 266,000 | 0.380 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 11-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 1,137,100 | 0.380 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 10-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 1,800,000 | 0.382 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 09-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 630,100 | - |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 08-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 1,068,100 | - |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 05-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 200,000 | - |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 02-Jan-2018 | Acquired | 795,400 | - |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 11-Dec-2017 | Acquired | 321,600 | 0.349 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 29-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 400,000 | 0.350 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 28-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 100,000 | 0.345 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 27-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 383,600 | 0.345 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 24-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 146,800 | 0.344 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 22-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 294,800 | 0.350 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 21-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 579,300 | 0.342 |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 03-Nov-2017 | Acquired | 250,000 | - |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 30-Oct-2017 | Acquired | 1,733,000 | - |
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| DATUK TIAH THEE KIAN | 27-Oct-2017 | Acquired | 250,000 | - |
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HIBISCUS SaiLang with TP RM4
LOL...rubbish
2018-02-19 23:53