KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Tiah Joo Kim, CEO of TA Global Bhd and Canada-based Holborn Group, has said he will not remove the name of US president Donald Trump from their luxury condominium-hotel project in Vancouver.

"I am locked in with the contract," he said in a report by the Financial Times (FT), adding that from a business standpoint, the Trump family hasn't done anything wrong.

Residents of the city have called for the Trump name to be removed from the Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver, the report said.

The 360 million Canadian dollar (RM1.23 billion), 63-storey hotel is a joint project between the Trump Organisation and the Holborn Group, founded by Malaysian property developer Tony Tiah Thee Kian, who is also the chairman of TA Enterprise Bhd.

According to Joo Kim, the 37-year-old son of the elder Tiah, the condos have sold out ahead of the hotel's grand opening at the end of February. The development had a soft opening last month after a six-month delay, FT reported.

The building is owned by Holborn while the Trump Organisation receives fees for managing the property and licensing its name as well as additional "incentive fees" if certain financial targets are reached, according to the report.

TA Global's shares have climbed 26.09% or 6 sen to 29 sen at its last trade since Trump's victory in November.

In May 2016, the group's director Datuk Tan Kuay Fong had said the bulk of the group's revenue for its 2016 financial year would come from the hotel in Vancouver.

In 2015, TA Global said it earned RM46.4 million in profit from the Trump development, amounting to nearly 58% of the group's profit. — theedgemarkets.com

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