Raimon Land's plans for the future

A CERTAIN "can-do" attitude seems to drive Johnson Tan, the man behind Raimon Land and the sole Singaporean chief executive of a Thai-listed company.

The "banker since Day 1" heads a property firm that saw a turnaround in its fortunes only a few years ago despite having been listed on the Thai stock exchange since 1993. By his reckoning, the group could soon face another test with the property market due for a correction.

"I think it's still a sound economy, but it will not be hunky dory. There was a nice run up in property prices right up to the Tom Yum Kung crisis. Then it went dead silent before it started to come up again in about 2005/2006 . . . It's been a nice seven year run up; not to say it has to be a seven-year cycle, but I think everything points to the fact that there has to be some pause," said Mr Tan.