The CEO Magazine Asia – July 2019

(Nandana) #1
ADRIAN CHUI, CEO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT
ESR-REIT, REVEALS HOW THE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
TRUST IS GROWING AND STRENGTHENING ITS PORTFOLIO.

WORDS JODIE DARLINGTON • IMAGES ESR-REIT

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drian Chui has a simple approach to business: “Get it done.” Not content
to sit back and let things happen around him, the driven executive
prefers to take action to ensure his business achieves its goals. “If you
can’t get the small things done, you’ll never get the big things right,”
he says. “This has been a guiding principle of how I plan and execute
business strategies and it’s an attitude that I try to get my team to
embrace. It has certainly influenced how we conduct our business at ESR-REIT.”
Formerly known as Cambridge Industrial Trust (CIT), ESR-REIT has undergone
some big changes since Adrian became CEO and Executive Director in 2017.
Following ESR’s acquisition of CIT, the Singapore-based company changed its name
to ESR-REIT. “We wanted to signal to the market that we are the REIT [real estate
investment trust] vehicle of ESR Group – we bear their name and our sponsor is
fully supportive of our transformational plans,” he explains.
“ESR’s acquisition of the CIT platform resulted in a paradigm shift for the REIT.
We now have a financially strong developer–sponsor with a regional footprint and
a strong position in the industrial and logistics real estate market, which we can
leverage across the real estate value chain. The sponsor understands that size does
matter in REITs.

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