Our Journey
 Through Time

The Group acquired its third data centre in Tally Ho Business Park, Melbourne, Australia.

The Group made its first investment in Japan with the acquisition of Red Planet Hotel Asakusa Tokyo, a 134-room hotel is located in Tokyo’s Asakusa district.

Wingcharm Investment Pte. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wing Tai Holdings Limited, was awarded the Land Parcel at Middle Road in the Bugis district.

Wing Tai Malaysia Berhad was delisted from the Main Board of the Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad on 30 August. It was privatised and renamed Wing Tai Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. on 19 October.

Wing Tai Land achieved the top bid at a state tender for the 99-year-leasehold private housing site along Serangoon North Avenue 1 through a joint venture with Keppel Land.

A 25-unit low-rise condominium at Jalan U-That, Kuala Lumpur

In recognition of higher contribution in earnings from property business

A 3 blocks of high-rise and 1 block of low rise apartments totaling 423 units in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur

Winsland House I at 3 Killiney Road, Singapore, became the new corporate HQ on 10 August.

Wing Tai led a real estate consortium comprising SEB Immobilien-Investment, Forum Partners and Eilam Group, to identify business opportunities for investments worth US$1 billion in China.

To bring leading high street brands like Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge

Wing Tai launched its hospitality business with Lanson Place Winsland House in Singapore and Ambassador Row, Kondominium No.8 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where it added Bukit Ceylon Serviced Residences in 2013. It further expanded to Hong Kong with boutique Lanson Place Hotel (2006) and to Shanghai and Beijing with Lanson Place Jinlin Tiandi (2005) and Lanson Place Central Park in Beijing (2008) respectively.

Wing Tai, together with USI, led a consortium of Singapore and Hong Kong partners to secure a bid for The Waterfront as a development of the Airport Railway Kowloon Station Development. The group acquired 27.65 per cent stake in Hong Kong-listed Winsor Properties Holdings Limited to expand its role as a new, and competent, property player in Hong Kong.

Wing Tai’s garment manufacturing in Singapore ceased production in August after 33 years of operations. The company’s manufacturing activities continued through DNP and USI in countries with lower manufacturing costs. Wing Tai implemented an innovative retrenchment scheme, where workers were relocated to operations in DNP or were absorbed and retrained for new roles in administration or retail operations. Factory and sewing staff were given language, grooming and sales training to prepare them for transition into new roles in the company’s retail business.

With property and retail as the core businesses of the company, Wing Tai unveiled its new corporate logo in August 1996 to support the profile of its corporate identity and strengthened regional presence, focusing the group’s business under a Wing Tai Asia collective. By incorporating the Tembusu as a symbol, Wing Tai set its sights on steady and confident growth.

With business opportunities arising from the opening up of China, Wing Tai entered into two government-backed consortia with major investment plans for the China market. China-Singapore International was formed with three partners (Straits Steamship Land Ltd, Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd and World-Wide Investment (Bermuda) Company Limited) for the development of an 18-storey office and retail complex in Ningbo in March 1993. In May, Wing Tai entered into an agreement with 18 other shareholders of a joint venture company, Singapore-Suzhou Township Development (Pte) Ltd to develop Suzhou Industrial Township in China (8.02 hectares of land).

USI was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on November 1991. It offered 455,500,123 shares for subscription at an issue price of HK$0.50 per share.

Company’s manufacturing activities were transferred to its wholly-owned subsidiaries and became an investment holding company.

Wing Tai became the first local garment company to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Singapore on 21 February 1989 as Wing Tai Holdings Limited. 40,000,000 new shares of $0.25 each were offered for subscription, at an issue price of S$1.25 per share.

A new nine-storey building was built at 105 Tampines Road, with a floor area of approximately 9,500 square metres From the 1970s to 1980s, Wing Tai was among the largest garment manufacturers in Asia. From a modest single factory operation in 1963, Wing Tai expanded its garment manufacturing business to six factories in Singapore. These factories covered a total production area of 30,000 square metres and produced five million pieces of jeans, skirts, jackets and winter clothing annually. The factories also produced woven labels and sewing threads. In Malaysia, manufacturing activities were carried out in nine factories in Balik Pulau, Penang; Johor Bahru, Johor; Parit Buntar, Ipoh and Kuala Kangsar in Perak; Kangar, Perlis; Kota Bahru, Kelantan. These factories covered a total production area of 65,000 square metres and produced 12 million pieces of garment including jeans, skirts, shorts, jackets, blouses, shirts and knitted sweaters. Wing Tai employed over 3,000 workers in Singapore and over 10,000 in Malaysia. By 1989, there were 20 factories in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Tunisia, China, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Its garment products were sold to more than 13 markets, including the US, Europe and Hong Kong.

Wing Tai was the first private company to secure government funding to set up an in-house textile and garment industry training centre. The initiative was supported by TGMAS (Textile and Garment Manufacturing Association of Singapore) and funded by SDF (Skills Development Fund). A staunch supporter of the NTUC BEST programme, Wing Tai was the very first to respond to the call to have its group of manufacturing companies start the in-plant BEST programme in 1982. Staff were given lessons in English and Mathematics, with teachers sponsored and brought in to conduct over 30 courses for different levels. They were also provided training for higher technical and supervisory skills.

Dragon & Phoenix Manufactory Sendirian Berhad was converted to a public company and renamed Dragon & Phoenix Berhad in 1979. It offered 5,394,000 new shares for subscription at an issue price of RM1.00 per share.

From Little Road, the factory moved to a larger factory at 105 Tampines Road in quest for expansion.

To meet escalating worldwide demand, another garment manufacturing subsidiary, DNP was set up in Malaysia. DNP became a successful garment manufacturer and exported high quality products from Malaysia to many advanced countries in the world.

Garment manufacturing was the principal activity.

On 9 August 1963, The Wing Tai Garment Manufactory (Singapore) Limited was established to meet growing industry demand. It quickly gained a reputation for excellence, and was awarded fiscal incentives through the Pioneer Status Scheme from 1963 to 1968 by the Singapore Government. It was the first factory to produce jeans in Singapore. The opening of the factory at Little Road was officiated on 18 September 1963 by the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, Singapore’s Finance Minister. About 200 workers were employed then.