16 | FORBES ASIA OCTOBER 2018
dormant for more than a decade. Aim-
ing to be the location of choice for glitzy
events, the 977-seat theater screened
Crazy Rich Asians in August, rolling out
its red carpet for the ilm’s stars, direc-
tor and producer. Inside, a ceiling center-
piece includes an intricate golden zodi-
ac, while the $10 million loor can rotate
to whisk away 500 seats and create a ball-
room. But Perennial declines to answer
whether the theater is turning a proit.
Pua acknowledges the headwinds,
noting that he needs to overhaul the Cap-
itol Piazza, replacing a number of the
mid-scale shops and cafés with higher-
class ones. “We will attract more and bet-
ter tenants,” he says. Also on the agenda:
integrating the staf at the Capitol and Pe-
rennial’s nearby Chijmes retail develop-
ment, which was formerly the Convent
of the Holy Infant Jesus Middle Educa-
FORBES ASIA
PERENNIAL GEM
tion School.
Over tea and cakes in the hotel’s lobby
lounge before the opening, Pua casts his
eyes around the 114-year-old building
that was once Stamford House, one of the
island’s early department stores. He recalls
how in 2010, he and the two other mem-
bers of a consortium—Singapore tycoon
Kwee Liong Seen and his Pontiac Land
Group, and Sukmawati Widjaja, daugh-
ter of Indonesian tycoon Eka Tjipta Wi-
djaja, and her property irm Top Global—
mounted the winning, $190 million bid
against 14 rivals for the government prop-
erty. Pua contributed his expertise in re-
tail, Kwee in hotels and Sukmawati in res-
idential. “We put up a good scheme,” says
Pua. “We didn’t stinge on a single cent.”
For Perennial, the win came as a
shock, according to Deputy Chief Exec-
utive Annie Lee, who joined the irm atits start just the year before. She says the
ledging outit had participated in the
process mostly to get experience with
government tenders, this being only its
third project. Pua was overseas when his
staf gathered to check the winner. “We
kept looking at the screen. Is it us? Is it
us?” she says. “We didn’t expect to win.”
In 2012 Sukmawati sold her stake to
Osim International founder and billion-
aire Ron Sim, now Perennial’s vice chair-
man, and Pontiac Land ailiate Chesham
Properties. With Perennial and Chesh-
am now each owning half of the project,
the stage was set for conlict between Pua
and Kwee. Pua winces when asked about
the feud, which began the next year, ac-
cording to reports. “We tried very hard,
and despite various people trying to help,
we had a fundamental deadlock,” he says.
heir dispute involved “a number of key
issues,” which included expenses and
when to sign a joint-venture agreement,
according to court records. Pua declines
to discuss the details on the record.
In 2016 Perennial went to court, ask-
ing a judge to wind up their three asso-
ciated companies. While the judge ac-
knowledged that a “loss of mutual trust”
had “straitjacketed” the project, the court
rejected the request and then also the ap-
peal, citing an agreement that allowed
one party to sell its shares to the other at
the fair-market value. “We were stuck,”
says Pua, relecting on the court’s deci-
sion in February.
Pua went back to Kwee with an ofer
he had made once before: Buy Perenni-
al’s 50% stake for $400 million. “hey de-
cided they did not want to, so we bought
[Chesham’s stake] at the same price and
the same terms,” he says. he deal was
signed in March. “We are very glad we
ended up owning the entire project. It’s
a lagship for us.” Kwee declines to com-
ment, referring all questions to Perennial.
At 54, Pua seems to be a local boy
wonder. Not only is he Perennial’s CEO,
he’s also chief operating oicer and ex-
ecutive director of commodities power-
house Wilmar International and a non-
executive director of Singapore-based
United Engineers. Apart from earn-
ing a master’s degree in civil engineering
at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- CAROLINE CHIA/THE STRAITS TIMES/NEWSCOM“We are glad we ended up owning the entire project. It’s a flagship for us”: Pua Seck Guan.