SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - Raymond Ng credits his propensity to collect things to the fact that he is in the recycling business. The executive chairman of Singapore-listed Enviro-Hub Holdings, a holding company with a diverse portfolio that includes trading, recycling and refining of electronic waste and metals as well as property investment and management, started the company in 1988 primarily in electronic waste recycling. (See related story: Relic Hunter's Good Class Bungalow on the market for $63 million)
Ng’s father was in the karung guni (rag-and-bone) trade. The elder Ng used to drive around in a truck to collect things that people discarded, and then sort them according to items to be recycled and those destined for the dump or incinerator. Ng used to accompany his father. “Once when I was throwing out carton boxes from inside a house, the pile was so high that when I slid down from the top, I ended up in the middle of the street,” he says.
When Ng left school, he decided to join the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) instead of the family business. He spent 8½ years in the SAF, where he discovered he had a talent as an auto mechanic. He dabbled in used cars and even became a used-car dealer. At one point, he had 13 cars. “I used to park them all over the army camp,” he recalls.
Towards the end of his National Service, Ng sold almost all his cars. Ng’s older brothers, who had joined their father in the karung guni trade, invited Ng to join them. “But I told them I didn’t like driving around in a truck full of carton boxes and plastic,” he relates. “I told them if they switched to recycling electronic waste, I will join them. That’s how I ventured into the electronic waste recycling business in 1988.”
Besides property, Ng’s other interest is automobiles. His privately-held property development and investment arm, BS Capital, purchased a 455,000 sq ft freehold site in Kranji, which he turned into the biggest automobile hub in Singapore called Carros Centre. The eight-storey complex has a total of 2.3 million sq ft of space for lease. Ng wants to turn it into a one-stop-shop, featuring car marts, workshops, spare parts and body shops as well as other car-related trades.
His company, BIS Motoring, a subsidiary of BS Capital, already owns a fleet of 1,200 cars for lease. Last year, he acquired 60% of Alpine Group, which owns Alpine Car Rentals, Alpine Motors (the dealership for Chevrolet cars) and Auto Germany, the sole distributor of Opel cars.
Ng’s latest interest is in vintage cars. His ambition now is to redevelop his Good Class Bungalow site at Yarwood Avenue, which sits on a sprawling site of 69,548 sq ft, into three luxury GCBs with basement parking that would appeal to vintage car collectors.
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