On Feb 24, ETC (previously known as Edmund Tie) and OrangeTee Group announced their decision to merge and form a new holding company, which is yet to be named. According to ETC CEO, Desmond Sim, this is a meeting of minds rather than an acquisition.
Sim will continue to hold the role of CEO at ETC and will also serve as the group CEO of the newly merged entity. Justin Quek, the current CEO of OrangeTee & Tie, will become the deputy group CEO of the holding company.
Post-merger, ETC will focus on consultancy and advisory services, while OrangeTee will concentrate on proptech and its real estate agency business, supported by a network of 2,803 registered salespersons with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) as of Feb 24.
The merged entity will have a combined staff of over 520 and a sales force of 2,803 agents. According to Sim, this merger will allow them to leverage their expertise, resources and networks to drive growth, add value for stakeholders, and achieve the necessary scale to thrive in the ever-evolving real estate industry.
This merger follows the joint venture in August 2017, when Edmund Tie and OrangeTee combined their associates’ businesses under a new entity, OrangeTee & Tie, which saw a sales force of over 4,000 agents and propelled the company to third place among the top agencies in Singapore. Triplestar Holdings and TH Investments (linked to the family of Tat Hong Holdings’ managing director and group CEO, Roland Ng) acquired a stake in ETC in 2016, which facilitated this latest merger. Triplestar and TH Investments now own 100% stake in ETC.
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ETC is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, while OrangeTee Group, an investment holding company established in 2000, will be marking its 25th anniversary. The firm is led by a board of directors and C-suite executives, including Quek, Marcus Oh, Teo Yak Huat, and Christine Sun.
Quek believes that with an enhanced brokerage and consultancy team powered by advanced proptech, they can have a bigger impact on the industry, delivering innovative and seamless solutions across all real estate sectors. Other stakeholders in OrangeTee Group include Tokyu Livable Inc., one of Japan’s biggest real estate agencies, and private property fund Vogue Capital Group. Both of these stakeholders will also have equity in the new holding company, along with Ng’s Triplestar Holdings and TH Investments.
Last year, ETC, through its joint venture in Malaysia, Nawawi Tie, opened an office in Johor Bahru, in addition to its presence in Penang and an associate in Thailand, Edmund Tie & Co (Thailand). Sim believes that this merger will open up more opportunities for them in the ASEAN region and Japan, especially through their partnership with Tokyu Livable.