TSI International expands operations to Malaysia (Sept 25, 2009)

KUALA LUMPUR: TSI International Group, a company involved in landbanking has appointed Sovereign Wealth Management Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian-owned wealth management company as the exclusive distributor for its landbanking products in the Malaysian market.

Based in Toronto, Canada, TSI started off as a construction company before venturing into landbanking in 2003. The company also counts property management and real estate development/urban renewal as part of its portfolio.

Stephen Huggins, president of TSI said it is a natural progression for TSI to expand their operations to Malaysia at a time when the world is still struggling to recover from the economic meltdown. He said Malaysia is a growing market for the landbanking concept. “With volatility seen in preserved wealth and paper assets, investors have to look at viable, alternative and hard assets that can preserve wealth and provide stability to their portfolio,” he said at the launch of TSI International Group in Malaysia today. The event was officiated by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Senator A Kohilan Pillay.

Grandtag A2A, a Hong Kong-based financial consultancy group registered with the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission is the official distributor in Asia.

TSI’s flagship project to be marketed in Malaysia is Bridle Park, located near the Blue Mountain Village and Wasaga Beach.

When queried about the questionable reputation of landbanking following investigations conducted by Bank Negara as well as the Companies Commission at the premises of several landbanking companies recently, John Iseli, president of Sovereign Wealth and Milton Bartlett, chief executive officer of Grandtag A2A, said they have been communicating with the Securities Commission and Companies Commission of Malaysia. “It is a matter of compliance, a company needs to follow the rules and that is what we are doing,” said Iseli.

Huggins said there are several more projects in the pipeline that will be announced at a later date and the company currently has C$120 million (RM383.52 million) worth of assets under its management and aims to increase that to C$500 million in five years.