Building lifestyle developments in China

ASIA-PACIFIC Strategic Investments Ltd (APSIL), a Catalist-listed small-cap company backed by Singapore tycoon Oei Hong Leong, may be an unlikely candidate to pioneer new real estate offerings in China. But it is doing just that.

Determined to carve a niche for itself in the vast country where most blue-chip Singapore players are entrenched in first- and second-tier cities, the group is banking on lifestyle property development in third- and fourth-tier cities.

It is of no surprise that such an innovative idea should come from Mr Oei himself, an old hand in China who owns a controlling 35.2 per cent stake in the group.