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Suntec International launched |
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By Raini Hamdi
| | Idenburg: Profit-centred |
A new entity, Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Services, has been launched, aiming to expand the Suntec brand outside Singapore by providing sales and marketing representation, venue management, franchising and brand transfer opportunities and consultancy.
Suntec International is headed by Peter Idenburg, also CEO of Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre. It has its own office within the convention centre in Singapore and has recruited an international business development director of sales and marketing, Chu Pui Wia, who was a former Suntec Singapore assistant director for business development and research.
Idenburg said Suntec International had a three-year plan to break even. It is negotiating with three developers of new, medium-sized, mixed-use centres in the region and is close to signing an MOU with two of them. It is also talking to centres in Europe that are interested to tap the burgeoning China meetings market for representation.
Idenburg said Suntec International was well-placed to offer expertise. “We (Suntec Singapore) have increased profit eight-fold in the last five years and won multiple awards. Other venues are able to buy into our distribution, reservation system, quality control standards, yield management and CRM tools, etc, all of which have helped us achieve global recognition for excellence.”
Opportunities abound, he said. “Centres around the world are owned by government and not normally built as profit-centres but for their economic spin-offs into cities. We have always been privately owned and profit-centred,” he said.
He said the company was contemplating a moderate acquisition strategy, where it buys into another company that already manages a few venues, in order to gain a critical mass.
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