Page 51 - Forbes - Asia (July - August 2018)

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

presence and product offerings. Earlier its new infrastructure business earlier this and just capturing a small piece of that
this year, it established Shanghai AVICT- year. According to the Asian Development US$1.7 trillion pie will be beneficial to
ARA Fund Management, a joint venture Bank, Asia alone requires US$1.7 trillion in ARA,” says Lim.
with AVIC Trust to capitalize on China’s infrastructure investment a year until 2030
fast-growing real estate fund management to maintain the region’s growth momen- What’s Next
market. AVICT-ARA will develop RMB- tum, tackle poverty and respond to cli- Looking ahead, ARA will continue to pur-
based fund products, including private mate change. sue robust growth both organically and
equity and mezzanine debt funds, as “We have been seeing strong demand through new strategic initiatives, includ-
well as explore opportunities in the from our investors for infrastructure invest- ing merger and acquisitions and joint ven-
quasi-REITs market and other potential ment, especially as the Belt and Road Ini- tures. Says Lim: “Our investment approach
real estate investment trust initiatives tiative gains momentum and governments is investor-led. We go where our investors
in China. in rapidly developing economies in Asia want to invest and develop products and
To ride on investors’ growing demand for and Europe open up to private invest- services across our full suite of investment
infrastructure investment, ARA launched ment. The opportunities are tremendous management, asset management and
property management services to address
their needs.”
The group is also mindful that growth
will not come at the expense of the qual-
ity and integrity of its work, which has to
remain of the highest standard. Accord-
ing to Lim, three “Ps”—Partners, People,
Passion—used to form the cornerstone of
ARA’s success. Today, he has added one
more “P”—Processes—to the mix.
“As the group expands, we need to
ensure that we have good systems and
processes in place to support our growth
and to uphold the integrity of the busi-
ness. Otherwise, our race toward global
expansion will be in vain,” he says.

ARA Shareholders - Warburg Pincus, John Lim, CK Asset Holdings Limited,
The Straits Trading Company Limited and AVIC Trust http://www.ara-asia.com/

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