Adapting to the environment

BE IT garments and electronics in the 1980s or TVs and disk drives in the 1990s, Vibrant Group's warehouses have serviced the needs of a growing nation. The logistics and warehousing player, which renamed itself from Freight Links Express Holdings to Vibrant Group in end-2013, now has grander ambitions. "We have grown ourselves to more than a freight company. We have added two core businesses - real estate and financial services - to our business model," says CEO Eric Khua, whose family became a substantial shareholder of the company in 2003.

Mr Khua explains that Vibrant's two new businesses began in recent years because they were complementary to the traditional freight and logistics business. Now, they are taking on a life of their own, he says.

"Our logistics business needed warehouses, so we designed and built them ourselves with the property segment. Then we were able to securitise the warehouses through our real estate investment trust (Reit), Sabana Reit, in the financial services arm.