Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with 8I Holdings Group Limited (ASX:8IH) Executive Director, Clive Tan
Lelde Smits: 8I Holdings Group Limited (ASX:8IH) is a financial education and training seminar and investment business. The Singapore based group was founded in 2008 and listed on the ASX at the end of last year.
I’m Lelde Smits and joining me at ASX Investor Series in Perth is the Company’s Executive Director, Clive Tan. Clive, welcome.
Clive Tan: My pleasure to be here today.
Lelde Smits: About 80 to 90 per cent of the Company’s profit comes from its investments. What is your acquisition strategy?
Clive Tan: Our investment profits actually come from three sources, one of which of course is the public listed companies that we acquire a stake in. We acquire a stake in those companies in the form of public traded shares. We also acquire of course, private companies and also we have our acquisition in southern property investment, in southern property development projects.
And I think in terms of the private companies acquisition, actually it also follows the 3R approach that we actually mention in our Prospectus. Meaning to say, the right business, the right management, as well as the right valuation versus price. Of course for private companies, we add on to that. There must also be a very strong growth factor in the company. Because what we really want to do, is to really grow with this company and hopefully, eventually, they can also go listing.
Lelde Smits: 8I Holdings has also been pursing the purchase of Brisbane based property developer, Velocity Holdings. How is that deal progressing?
Clive Tan: For that particular deal actually its in progress, the due diligence is in the advanced stages. I think there were just one or two delays in terms of - we’re actually going to restructure the company and certain government agencies that need their approval. And we’re still working through that, but I don’t think it’s a big issue. So once those are done, the due diligence is cleared and we can carry out the restructure, I think we’ll just go ahead with that.
Lelde Smits: Where else is 8I Holdings looking for some potential acquisition opportunities?
Clive Tan: I think we’re still in Singapore, in Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Australia as well. I mean in Australia, we have more and more of our activities from here. We’re already meeting more people and just because of this trip, I’m actually here for longer than I thought. And we’re also looking at Hong Kong and China right now.
Lelde Smits: Looking now at your education seminars. Which are your most popular courses and programs and which themes and countries will you be targeting?
Clive Tan: Our most popular program is actually our own other program that was started with, called the Millionaire Investor Program and we also have our risk program. Both these programs are doing pretty well. We also are working with other trainers and service providers to actually come up with new programs. And they’re all in the area of investment, that’s what we realised is our forte. And of course, in terms of the countries we’re going into, I think Singapore, Malaysia is there and we’re growing also into China and Hong Kong, and maybe Australia.
Lelde Smits: Clive final question, what are your immediate priorities and longer term, what kind of company are you aiming to create?
Clive Tan: I think the immediate priority right now; we’re actually expanding our education offering. That’s why I talk about the various countries earlier on and we’re also looking to acquire our private companies. You know we have a lot of growth potential, so that we can actually be part of the company. And also, I think the third thing is, increase our investment in the public equity space.
So with that, actually what we wanted to create long term is just to give a major risk, is something like a Berkshire Hathaway plus a Black Rock kind of combination, of investment company.
