Under the Radar: Beyond the Banyan – Banyan Group’s founder Ho Kwon Ping on shoring up share prices, brand positioning, further expansion and family business succession

The Evening Runway with Hongbin Jeong, Roshan Gidwani and Chua Tian Tian

From a single resort in Phuket to becoming one of the world’s leading independent, multi-branded hospitality groups – today we’re going to bring you an inside look into the growth story of Banyan Group.

With its beginnings dated about 30 years back to 1994, Banyan Group was founded as a sanctuary for the senses and now boasts a diversified portfolio of hotels, resorts, spas, galleries, golf and residences centred around 12 major brands, including: Banyan Tree, Angsana, Cassia, Dhawa and Laguana.

The business was built around the core-concept of sustainability, and adopts what it calls an “asset-right” model to maximise value for its stakeholders through a three-pronged approach.

That includes rebalancing asset ownership to focus on key competencies, unlocking land banks to realise development value and growing fee-based segment through strategic industry partnerships.

Why are we talking to Banyan Group you might ask? Well, the firm had in January this year shifted its corporate umbrella brand from “Banyan Tree Group” to Banyan Group to reflect its portfolio transformation from a single luxury brand to a multi-brand player.

That’s as the firm seeks further expansion with 19 new properties and residences in Cambodia, China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Mexico in the pipeline for this year. So what can we expect on this front, and how far will a new umbrella brand help individual brands under the Group better position for the future?

Meanwhile, the firm’s founder Ho Kwon Ping also told Nikkei Asia in February that the firm plans to split its hotel and property development units to unlock value for the Group. But how effective will this be in shoring up the share prices of the firm?

On Under the Radar, The Evening Runway’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Ho Kwon Ping, Executive Chairman and Founder, Banyan Group.

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