Beyond Luxury

Rajawali Property Group expands its wings to look for new business horizons.

- Ardian Wibisono

Despite the ups and downs in the global economic cycle, luxury business continues to grow in Asia Pacific marked by the proliferation of wealth. A research study by Capgemini showed that people with investable assets of $1 million or more grew at 9.1% CAGR in the period of 2010-2015.

Indonesia booked the highest growth at 14.3% in 2015-2016, followed by Thailand and Taiwan. As such, the Rajawali Group, owned by tycoon Peter Sondakh, through its Rajawali Property Group, has set its sights on new business opportunities. With 30 years of experience in the business, the group currently holds several luxury assets portfolio in Indonesia and Malaysia such as the recently established mixed-use Capital Place & Four Seasons Jakarta, St. Regis Bali, St. Regis Langkawi, and the mixeduse Rajawali Place that will also include St. Regis Jakarta.

So far the group’s business is doing very well. Property is not vulnerable to economic turbulence, including the commodity burst in 2014. Luxury property, due to its nature of limited supply, is more resilient. The company claims to maintain its growth at a double-digit rate with revenues exceeding $100 million and total assets valued at over $1 billion.

“Luxury is basically the business for the established wealthy. In Indonesia the ultra-high net worth is growing very much faster than in other markets in the world, and is actually quite comparable with China and India in terms of growth rate. We usually have a very luxury brand like St. Regis or Four Seasons anchoring the property in which we can develop offices or residence around it,” says CEO Shirley Tan, who has been in the business for over 15 years.