Malaysia

"even as his family business Hong Leong enjoys a household name status in Singapore and Malaysia, and his flagship CDL company is held up as a blue-chip bellweather stock on the Singapore stock exchange, Kwek is a man seldom heard in public and even less often seen. A favourite story among business circles was how he was shooed away by the security guard at his own Orchard Hotel in Singapore after turning up one day in a new car. His staff recognised his wheels, not his face."

"In the early 1990s, it became clear to Greenberg that, in the decade ahead, some $2 trillion of infrastructure investment would be needed across Asia, Central Europe, the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States, and Latin America.4 The need was driven by increased economic activity, growth, and privatization. For instance, as more people in Malaysia bought cars, the number of vehicles on the streets of Kuala Lumpur mushroomed, creating need for new and better highways. Similarly, as China’s economy expanded, the country needed a massively larger electricity grid to power it. As the economies of Latin America grew and living standards rose, countries needed new airports, communications networks, energy projects, highways, port refurbishment, and utility construction."

"On the merits, AIG argued that allowing it to operate in Malaysia would generate substantial benefits to the country because it would be an investor of “patient capital” locally. Especially for life insurance companies such as AIA, the business of insurance involves accumulating and husbanding large amounts of capital that must be invested for the long term in the locale. AIA may write an insurance policy for a 30-year-old citizen, receiving premiums, and be prepared to pay under the policy on any given day during a period as long as the next 40 years. The company must invest all the premiums it receives along such a lengthy time horizon, often in long-term government bonds. These bonds fund infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and hospitals."

"The 1960s were a period of consolidation as well as expansion of Rupert’s tobacco and cigarette interests. The takeover of Carreras and Rothmans led to expansion in other parts of the world. Using Rothmans as his flagship, he created a stir with his philosophy of industrial partnership in various countries where he embarked on new initiatives. Partnership companies were established on a bilateral basis in Australia and New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, Jamaica, Northern and Southern Rhodesia (now Zambia and Zimbabwe) and Nyassaland (now Malawi) − eventually even beyond the Iron Curtain in Russia and China."

"In 1961 Rupert moved into the former Federation of Northern and Southern Rhodesia and Nyassaland (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi), where he had to operate via Britain because of South African exchange-control regulations. That same year he formed a partnership company in Malaysia. Two years later be bought Sullana in Switzerland and formed a partnership in Ireland, which became the largest factory in that country. In the Netherlands he obtained a share in Schimmelpenninck cigars."