Steadfast about growth

JOHN Lim, group CEO and co-founder of ARA Asset Management, has left nothing to chance in his entrepreneurial journey, going by the calibrated moves he has made in the past 16 years. From the choice of major shareholders and strategic partners, the decision to delist ARA, to the firm's corporate culture, they are all a result of much deliberation. Clearly, not anyone who knocks on ARA's doors gets invited in. "We are not in lack of capital," Mr Lim quips. "There is no reason for us to take in anyone who comes with a bag of cash. Everyone who comes into ARA must have a purpose and a reason, as far as I am concerned."

In fact, it took long-time suitor Warburg Pincus some 10 years to be ushered in. The American private equity heavyweight courted ARA (short for Asian Realty Advisors) as early as in 2006, a year before ARA's public listing in Singapore, but only became a major shareholder last year through a privatisation bid led by Mr Lim.

"Warburg Pincus approached me in 2006 wanting to be a shareholder," Mr Lim recalls. "At that time, we didn't feel that we needed a Warburg Pincus. We could grow with the Cheung Kong backing." The Hong Kong-based conglomerate is a shareholder in the firm that Mr Lim co-founded in 2002 at age 45 with the backing of tycoon Li Ka-shing.