Established in 1974, the group has been largely associated with trading as it started out as the trading arm of Guthrie. But today, contribution from the trading division is negligible compared with that of the fast expanding property development arm.

Although some 80% of its assets are in property development, it is still listed under the trading counter on Bursa Malaysia. Despite having ventured into property development since the early1990s, Mulpha is not known as a property group in Malaysia although it has made much headway in Australia since venturing there in late 1992.

As described by a company executive, Lee is working at linking up the pieces together and leveraging on the group's capability and expertise in the property and financial services sectors.

“We are at a stage where we are not facing any financial constraints in our growth but the main challenge is human capital. Efforts are ongoing to streamline the group's structure to refocus on what we do best,'' Lee said.

Although Mulpha has invested substantially in Australia through its investment arm Mulpha Australia Ltd (MAL) to leverage on the stable and strong economic growth Down Under, it is pursuing a diversification programme in terms of its earnings base to spread its exposure to different countries instead of being overly dependent on a single country.

On its growth strategy, Lee said: “Our aim is to be a highly successful manager and owner of prime assets like what we have built up in Australia. We are most encouraged by our success and will continue to look for viable investment opportunities to expand our operations in Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries”

Lee said this to a group of Malaysian reporters who were taken on site tours of MAL's Sanctuary Cove, Norwest Business Park and hotel properties in Brisbane and Sydney.

“Ideally, the Malaysian operation should contribute 50% to group earnings but its meagre contribution was nullified by the buoyant growth in Australia, which recorded a compounded growth of 1,000% in the last 12 years,” Lee said.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2003, MAL contributed 80% to Mulpha group earnings while contribution from mainland China and Hong Kong made up another 20%.

Coupled with the appreciation of the Australian currency, the contribution of MAL in terms of ringgit rose by 66% last year. A major part of MAL's earnings was from Norwest Ltd while Sanctuary Cove, which was acquired in 2002, made its maiden profit for the group last year. With the good sales recorded for its land and residential homes, contribution from Sanctuary Cove is expected to increase this year.

Another significant contributor, Greenfield Chemical Holdings Ltd, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange main board, is involved in the manufacture and sale of industrial paints in Hong Kong and China.

As part of its streamlining efforts, Lee said Mulpha would hive off its non-core businesses either through management buy-out, wind up the companies, or sell to third parties.

“Our objective is to become the market leader in our main business activities and pursue our regional ambition for balanced expansion and growth. Although we have been very successful in Australia, much more need to be done in our Malaysian pursuits,” Lee added.

To spearhead Mulpha's foray into property, a former executive of IGB Corp Bhd, Lai Meng, was recently appointed Mulpha Land & Property Sdn Bhd chief executive officer. He has been tasked with beefing up the local operations and building up the Mulpha brand in the local property arena.

The recovery in the Malaysian property market augurs well for the group and plans are afoot to expand its exposure by building up its land bank.

Among its ongoing projects include the 1,765-acre Leisure Farm in southwest Johor, near the Second Link Expressway to Singapore, the 1,200-acre Bandar Seri Ehsan in Sepang, Selangor, and 426-acre Taman Desa Aman in Kulim, Kedah.

According to Lai in an interview at Mulpha's headquarters in Petaling Jaya, the group has the financial capability to acquire more strategic land bank and to build up its profile as one of the leading property developers in the country. It has a land bank of 3,500 acres, of which 2,000 are still undeveloped.

Leisure Farm, which kicked off in 1991, was supposed to be completed in 15 years but its progress has been hampered by the regional financial crisis in 1997 and the slowdown in the last two years. However, with the warming of relations between Malaysia and Singapore, more Singaporeans are crossing the causeway to buy holiday homes in Leisure Farm.

Of the 3,000 homes and land plots planned, 700 had been sold. Upon completion in the next 10 years, it will provide a gross development value of RM1.6bil.

“With our exposure in both the bread-and-butter and upmarket property sectors, Mulpha is well placed to achieve its target of becoming a mainstream property group within the next five years,” Lai said.

In financial services, Lee harbours more ambitious plans to groom the outfit into a bigger financial group with interests in brokerage and merchant banking.

Mulpha Capital executive director Derrick Tan said the company, which provided financial and corporate advisory services, saw strong potential, especially with the growing mergers and acquisitions, management buy-out initiatives and direct investment opportunities in the country.