Berjaya to bring luxury hotel chain to Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Upbeat on the Philippines’ growth prospects, the Berjaya Group, one of the biggest conglomerates in Malaysia, is moving to shore up its presence with plans to bring leading international luxury hotel brand Four Seasons as well as wireless device and consumer electronics retailer Radio Shack here.

In a briefing following the Bayanihan Expo 2012 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City Saturday, Berjaya chair Tan Sri Dato Seri Vincent Tan said he considers the Philippines a key growth area given its robust economy and the Aquino administration’s good governance agenda.

“The Philippines is undoubtedly now realizing its economic potentials as a result of its positive economic and investment climate. I believe the leadership of President Aquino, through a straight path of transparency, will surely uplift its economy and society. We are following him in this path to renewal and good governance in our investments because that will be good for us and for the Philippines,” Tan said.

Tan said the group is keen on the manufacturing, in particular consumer goods, and retail sectors as it wants to capitalize on the growing consumption by Filipinos and the expected increase in tourism arrivals in the Philippines.

“We want to build more hotels. Our group owns and operates five and four-star hotels in Malaysia and other countries. We plan to build a Four Seasons hotel here,” Tan said.

The Berjaya Group is currently building a Four Seasons Hotel in Kyoto Japan at a cost of $318 million. The project is said to be the first luxury hotel to rise in Kyoto, which caters to more than 40 million tourists a year.

 For the consumer goods business, Tan said the group is considering setting up RadioShack franchise outlets in the Philippines as part of a deal to open at least 1,000 franchise locations across Southeast Asia in the next ten years.

Berjaya and RadioShack signed a master development agreement aimed at widening RadioShack’s global footprint.

RadioShack offers master franchisees a range of modular, flexible approaches to retailing: stand-alone, mall-based units or strip-center units, leased or built; kiosks; shop-in-shop units; sale or distribution of exclusive private brands in consumer electronics; and facilitated access to leading global brands and manufacturers.

For his part, Berhad Philippine representative Paulino Soo said the planned investments reflect the Malaysian conglomerate’s bullishness on the Philippines.

The Berjaya group has been doing business in the Philippines for 18 years and currently has 800 employees engaged in food & beverage (Papa John’s Pizza), hotels (Berjaya Manila Hotel in Makati), gaming & lottery management (Prime Gaming Management Corp.) businesses; social network (Friendster) and now automotive distribution of Mazda products.