Geylang King's Midas touch

Aug 24, 2008

Geylang King's Midas touch

Fragrance Group's chief, named S'pore's 24th richest man, hails from family with business smarts

By Nur Dianah Suhaimi

His Fragrance chain of budget hotels is a familiar sight in Geylang. But Mr James Koh Wee Meng, who last week made headlines with his debut 24th placing on Forbes magazine's list of the 40 richest Singaporeans, is less forthcoming about his personal life.

The 45-year-old, who has a net worth of $230 million and is chief of the public-listed Fragrance Group, repeatedly declined interview requests from The Sunday Times.

He even ruled out the possibility of an interview in the next few months.

Fragrance is a family-run property and hotel developer which was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in 2005.

It has built more than 50 properties, from budget hotels to terrace houses.

While little is known about the man, it is obvious that business acumen runs in the Koh family.

They are the same people behind the Lee Hwa jewellery business, which listed as Aspial Corp in 2006.

Mr Koh's younger brother, Mr Koh Wee Seng, is chief executive of Aspial Corp, the only public-listed jewellery company in Singapore.

The younger Mr Koh also declined to be interviewed.

It was in the family's Lee Hwa operations that the elder Mr Koh got his business training. In a 2001 interview with The Straits Times, the former Serangoon Secondary School student revealed that he was never interested in studies.

From the age of 14, he would help out at his father's jewellery shop on Circuit Road - then called Lee Hwa Goldsmiths and Jewellery - after school.

He worked his way up. By age 21, he had set up a factory above his father's shop to make gold ornaments for the shop, as well as for wholesale. Soon, he was running the family's jewellery stores and factory. But building houses, not jewellery, was his passion.

'I used to walk past construction sites and just stare at them. To construct a tall building from an empty plot of land is very satisfying,' he told The Straits Times in 2001.

In 1991, he got his first big break in property. He bought a 5,000 sq ft plot of land for $700,000 in Kembangan to build a bungalow and sold it for $1.8 million. He developed more landed properties and later moved on to apartment blocks.

In the 1990s, he saw the potential for budget hotels in Singapore to serve backpackers and young travellers.

In 1996, he built the first Fragrance Hotel in Geylang Lorong 20 and named it Ruby, a nod to the many years spent helping out with his family's jewellery business. Fragrance's next four hotels in Geylang were named Crystal, Emerald, Pearl and Sapphire.

Mr Koh was soon crowned Geylang King by the media for building 11 small-scale residential projects in the area between 1994 and 2004.

In 2005, the business went public on the Singapore Stock Exchange.

In February this year, Fragrance Group reported that for the 2007 financial year, its net profit had more than doubled from $14.8 million to $30.4 million. Its hotel sector contributed $23.63 million to the group's total consolidated turnover of $136.12 million.

Over the years, Mr Koh has been consistently upping his stake in the company. His direct interest in Fragrance now stands at 72.75 per cent.

His wife, Madam Lim Wan Looi, also holds a substantial stake in the company. They have a 17-year-old daughter.

If he has one indulgence, it has to be his love for vintage cars. In 2004, it was reported that he had two 1970-model Volkswagen Beetles, which he drove on Sundays, and a Bentley which ferried him around daily.