SingEx Venues appointed to continue operating Singapore Expo for up to 10 years

SINGEX VENUES has been appointed to continue to operate Singapore Expo Convention & Exhibition Centre (Singapore Expo) for up to 10 years starting from 2019, beating two other contenders after a long-awaited tender result, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced on Thursday. STB had published a request for proposal (RFP) in December 2017 as SingEx's management contract is due to expire at the end of this year. The tender closed Feb 14.

As previously reported by The Business Times, that drew a S$50 million proposal from SingEx; a S$60 million submission from Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) wholly owned events arm Sphere Exhibits and concert organiser Unusual Development; as well as a S$60 million submission from a unit of Singapore entrepreneur Ron Sim's V3 Group. Unusual Development is a unit of Catalist-listed Unusual Limited. SPH owns BT.

The proposals were evaluated on criteria such as robustness of the business strategy, track record and ability to market and operate the Singapore Expo as a leading international meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) venue. STB said that SingEx's proposal "demonstrated a strong understanding of Singapore's MICE industry and outlined a comprehensive plan to grow the MICE segment in relation to Singapore Expo".

Chew Tiong Heng, executive director of infrastructure planning and management for STB said in the statement: "Business events are integral to our tourism industry. As the largest event venue in Singapore that hosts about 600 events and an average of six million visitors each year, the Singapore Expo thus plays a critical role in the MICE industry." He thanked all bidders for their participation and congratulated SingEx on its appointment. He added: "We look forward to SingEx's continued contributions towards enhancing Singapore as one of the world's leading MICE destinations." Aloysius Arlando, the chief executive officer of SingEx Holdings said in a statement: "We are honoured to be entrusted with the continued responsibility of leading Singapore Expo into its next phase of growth. SingEx Venues is excited to continue playing a leading role in the business events and MICE industry."

The company added that it had come up with a "master suite of solutions to enhance the venue's offerings to current and emerging organisers".

"The ability to understand and adapt to ever-changing market conditions in today's globalised and digital economy, has positioned the company as the ideal venue manager for new event design formats and disruptive changes happening in the MICE space. Through pegging its benchmarks against regional and international leaders, SingEx is able to continue leading the way to be best-in-class in world standards." SingEx Holdings, the parent of SingEx Venues, is owned by Temasek Holdings. SingEx will share more details of the re-branding and new offerings for Singapore Expo at a later date. Singapore Expo, Singapore's largest exhibition venue, has 108,000 sq m of indoor space and was opened in 1999 as a space for mega trade shows, but observers have noted that it has since come up against competition from venues in China, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.