Grit built in the genes: Malaysia’s Lee Yeow Seng drives IOI’s bold Singapore push

Inside Asia’s family empires: How they are transforming to seize the next stage of growth

[KUALA LUMPUR/SINGAPORE] Lee Yeow Seng has a benchmark to aspire to in the next chapter of the family’s property empire: a place among Singapore’s top three developers.

The 47-year-old CEO of Malaysia’s IOI Properties Group is pursuing that vision by expanding the builder’s footprint in the city-state’s financial district.

From a joint bid for One Raffles Place to the redevelopment of Shenton House, the younger son of the late Malaysian plantation-and-property tycoon Lee Shin Cheng is carving out his own legacy.

“My personal target is to establish IOI Properties among the top three developers in Singapore,” Lee Yeow Seng told The Business Times.

Since entering Singapore in 1996, the group has expanded from residential projects to include a commercial portfolio, with developments including IOI Central Boulevard Towers, South Beach and Asia Square Tower 2, alongside a pipeline featuring W Residences Marina View.

Its next moves could extend that presence further.

IOI Properties and CapitaLand Investment are conducting exclusive due diligence for the acquisition of One Raffles Place.

While reports also linked the group to Chijmes and The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore, IOI Properties clarified that those proposals were never formally reviewed or tabled for board approval.

In addition, IOI Properties has conditionally agreed to acquire Shenton 101 (the entity owning Shenton House) from the younger Lee for a nominal sum of S$1, alongside the repayment of roughly S$217 million in shareholder advances (following his private vehicle’s S$538 million site purchase).

Plans envision a 35-storey mixed-use landmark featuring Grade-A offices, retail spaces and a 165-room luxury hotel, with an estimated gross development value of S$1.61 billion.

“We are riding the wave – not just because of the tightness in supply of prime office space in the CBD (Central Business District) area, but also the good policies introduced by the Singapore government,” Lee Yeow Seng said.

Financial momentum backs the push. The company’s revenue for the financial year ended Jun 30, 2026, jumped 45 per cent to RM4.44 billion (US$1.1 billion), while net profit more than doubled to RM2.15 billion. Both increases were underpinned by rising Singapore commercial occupancy and strong Malaysian retail footfall.

Malaysia remained the group’s primary growth engine for property development, generating 91 per cent of total sales, with China and Singapore accounting for 6 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.

Ambition runs in the family

The appetite for expansion has a family precedent. Lee Yeow Seng’s father built IOI Group through a succession of bold bets that would create a business spanning plantations, property and speciality fats.

Born in Selangor in 1939, Lee Shin Cheng grew up on a rubber estate where his father ran a sundry shop. He left school at 11 to sell ice cream on a bicycle to support the family, later returning to his studies.

His early job hunt in plantation management was met with rejection, as Dunlop Estates turned down his application due to his poor English – a moment he recalled in a 2017 interview with The Star. 

Undeterred, the elder Lee founded property developer Lam Soon Huat Development in 1975 and launched his first housing project in Kajang a year later.

In 1982, he acquired Industrial Oxygen Inc to anchor his plantation ambitions, eventually buying Dunlop Estates itself in 1990. “Today sunset, tomorrow sunrise,” he famously told analysts who dismissed palm oil as a declining sector.

His bets paid off as the 1997 acquisition of Palmco expanded IOI’s oleochemical footprint, while the 2002 purchase of Loders Croklaan from Unilever propelled the group onto the global stage in the speciality-fats sector.

A seamless two-sector succession

The succession at IOI Group unfolded in two deliberate phases under Lee Shin Cheng’s leadership.

In January 2014, the conglomerate demerged its property arm, which had been privatised in 2009, and listed it separately as IOI Properties Group. The move separated real estate from the core agribusiness, establishing distinct corporate domains for his two sons.

Elder son Lee Yeow Chor was made head of IOI Corp – the plantation and oleochemical business – while Lee Yeow Seng assumed leadership of IOI Properties, with their father retaining oversight as executive chairman.

“I have been planning this succession for many years... I believe they can do better than me,” Lee Shin Cheng was reported to have said.

Following the founder’s death on Jun 1, 2019 (just two days before his 80th birthday and scheduled retirement), the brothers continued to build on that foundation and faith placed in them.

Prior to his death, Lee Shin Cheng was ranked fifth on Forbes’ list of Malaysia’s 50 richest, with a net worth of US$5.4 billion. Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng were placed third in the 2026 edition of the same list, with a combined net worth of US$8.5 billion.

Under Lee Yeow Chor, IOI Corp navigated environmental scrutiny in 2016 by overhauling its sustainability governance and regaining the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification. It then unlocked value in 2018 by selling a 70 per cent stake in Loders Croklaan to Bunge for nearly RM3.8 billion.

Meanwhile, IOI Properties has expanded substantially under Lee Yeow Seng. As at Oct 28, the company commands a market capitalisation of RM17.4 billion, more than double its RM8.1 billion valuation at the time of the 2014 demerger.

On the personal front, Lee Yeow Seng married prominent Malaysian politician and former Cabinet minister Yeo Bee Yin in 2019; the couple have five children, including a pair of twins.

IOI Properties’ regional footprint

IOI Properties’ development footprint spans Malaysia, Singapore and China – a multi-market presence built on strategic focus.

The group entered Xiamen in June 2010 with IOI Park Bay. It later expanded its portfolio to include IOI Palm International Parkhouse and IOI Palm City, an integrated development housing IOI Mall Xiamen and Sheraton Grand Xiamen Jimei.

For Lee Yeow Seng, confidence in Xiamen rests on commercial fundamentals and a deep connection to Fujian, his ancestral province.

“China is a massive market, and it is inaccurate to view the country as a single monolith. You have to analyse each region and province on its own merits,” he said. 

“I have been travelling there since I was 10, returning to our ancestral home almost every year,” he added, noting that Xiamen is a natural gateway for the diaspora returning to Fujian and local industrial entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, Singapore remains a core long-term engine, supported by regulatory stability despite headwinds such as the additional buyer’s stamp duty.

Looking ahead, the group’s next major landmark is likely the proposed listing of IOIPG Malaysia Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) this year.

Valued at about RM7.66 billion, the nine-property portfolio features flagship asset IOI City Mall, IOI City Towers, PFCC Towers and six hotels.

IOI Properties aims to raise up to RM2.43 billion from the listing, more than initially planned, as Malaysia heads for its biggest year of fundraising through initial public offerings in more than a decade. 

The exercise will recycle capital to reduce debt and fund ongoing developments as regional expansion demands substantial capital commitments.

“If you take care of your people, the people will take care of you”

For Lee Yeow Seng, his father’s influence shapes daily life just as much as business strategy.

“He still influences me every day... His biggest strength was treating people equally, with value and respect,” he noted.

Beyond profits, he prioritises staff welfare, education and philanthropy. He serves on the board of Kuala Lumpur’s Kuen Cheng High School and has donated to the Tsinghua and Xiamen universities.

His father’s core lesson remains clear: “If you take care of your people, the people will take care of you.”