Surbana Jurong buys security firm from Temasek

Singapore

URBAN development consultancy group Surbana Jurong has bought one of Singapore's three licensed auxiliary police organisations from Surbana Jurong's parent, investment firm Temasek Holdings, in a bid to add security and safety to its urban master plans, the group said in a press release on Thursday.

Surbana Jurong, the largest urban, industrial and infrastructure consulting firm in Asia, said its acquisition of 100 per cent of Aetos Holdings was amid growing demand for physical development plans to factor in security and safety considerations.

After buying Aetos, which employs 2,900 people, Surbana Jurong will have 13,000 employees worldwide and total annual turnover of around S$1.3 billion, the group said. It had said in August that it had a global workforce of 9,800 employees and a combined revenue of about S$1.1 billion. The purchase sum was not disclosed and the group declined to reveal the number.

"We will be able to integrate security and safety management as a total package in our facilities management services for the real estate sector, conducting audit and risk assessments of building designs and proposing security solutions," its group chief executive Wong Heang Fine said in a statement. Those include surveillance and monitoring systems such as CCTV (closed-circuit television), access control systems using biometrics and screening systems that can detect explosives and radiation, he said.

"We will also be able to utilise Aetos' state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to enhance our surveillance security services as well as enhance our land survey capabilities."

The group noted that Aetos has provided security for events such as the year-end countdown at Marina Bay, the F1 night race in Singapore, the Singapore Airshow and the South-east Asian Games in 2015.

Aetos was set up in 2004 after the merger of three auxiliary police forces: PSA Corporation's, Singapore Technologies Kinetics' and Changi International Airport Services'.

Aetos group chief executive officer James Tan said in a statement that Aetos has a "large force of armed and unarmed guards" and can protect infrastructure such rail, airports, seaports, tunnels, petrochemical and pharmaceutical plants as well as biomedical facilities.

Surbana Jurong was formed in June 2015 through the merger of urban planning consultancy Surbana International Consultants and industrial and infrastructure engineering group Jurong International.

Before buying Aetos, it bought Australian-based infrastructure consultancy SMEC Holdings for about S$400 million.