FRAMED up in Tat Hong Holdings' offices in Sungai Kadut are several Business Times articles dating back to the early 2000s. One clipping, pointing out that the Singapore company had grown to become one of the world's largest crane lessors, labelled Tat Hong a 'dark horse' which could surprise investors.

In the right business in the right place at the right time: Mr Ng, CEO of Tat Hong, which, according to some estimates, controls about a quarter of the Singapore market for cranes. At one stage, two out of every three cranes at work at the integrated resort site in Marina Bay belonged to Tat Hong.

Another August 2002 piece pointed out that despite Tat Hong's position as Asia's largest crane company, few in the market seemed to notice, or care, judging by its stock price performance. 'This year, it is ranked Asia's largest (crane lessor),' the article pointed out. 'Yet one would not know it from the way the stock has been performing. Yesterday it fell 1.5 cents to 31.5 cents on just 21,000 units.'

But in April 2004, BT noted in its stock-pick column that Tat Hong had been one of the top small-cap performers on the local bourse. It was trading at about 60 cents, after gaining some 180 per cent over the previous 52 weeks. The article added: 'Tat Hong is a potential gem which has yet to be discovered by many investors.'

Three years later, and Tat Hong has emerged as the market darling.

With its primary listing now moved from Sydney to Singapore, the company became a billion-dollar mainboard-listed company here last year, with its price doubling to almost $3.50.

But Tat Hong's growth and recognition is not a product of chance. Rather, it had to do with careful strategic planning. And the man driving this process was Roland Ng, this year's Businessman of the Year.

One of 15 children of Tat Hong's founder, Ng Chwee Cheng, the junior Ng joined the company - then known as Tat Hong Heavy Equipment - in 1978 after a short stint as an engineer at Jurong Town Corporation.

'At the time, Tat Hong was a small family business selling second-hand equipment like excavators and bulldozers,' Mr Ng recalls. 'My father was running it with some of my brothers.'

By the 1980s, demand for cranes and construction equipment was increasing, thanks to more infrastructure projects. 'Our business in Singapore and Malaysia started taking off in the late 1980s when the demand for cranes increased in Malaysia's timber industry and as Singapore embarked on industrial development and public housing projects.'

By the mid-1990s, this demand had intensified further.

Mr Ng decided that the company would need a more focused corporate identity and purpose. 'By the late 1980s, we had started moving away from excavators to cranes, which were more critical for the infrastructure and resources industries,' he said.

That decision proved pivotal in positioning Tat Hong as a pan-Asian company.

'We started looking at new markets like China and Australia,' Mr Ng relates. 'After some careful evaluation, we decided that China was less predictable and, therefore, more risky at that time. But on the other hand we saw huge potential in the more mature and transparent Australian market.'

The move proved to be a critical success for Tat Hong.

Instead of establishing a new business in Australia from scratch, Mr Ng and his management team decided to buy into an existing Australian crane and machinery lessor, Tutt Bryant, in 1996.

'They already had a strong track record in smaller equipment supplies to the resources industry, so all we had to do was move our bigger cranes there.'

There was no looking back after that as the business took off, especially in the mining and resources business. In fact, the Australian division was so strong that it was contributing to over two-thirds of Tat Hong's profits until 2003. Equally important, the dependence on Australia helped cushion Tat Hong from the direct impact of the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98.

And it is testimony to that strategic vision that Tat Hong is today the world's biggest lessor of crawler cranes. It is also ranked first in Asia in aggregate tonnage and seventh worldwide.

In 1997, Tat Hong listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in Sydney. Three years later, it obtained a secondary listing in Singapore.

But between 2003 and 2005, its Singapore business started taking off strongly. 'We decided the time was right to move our listing to Singapore,' Mr Ng says. 'We did that in early 2005.'

And later that year, Tat Hong spun off Tutt Bryant as a separate listed company on the ASX.

The company's growth has become even more remarkable in recent years. Earnings have risen 10-fold over the past five years. The stock price is up six-fold. Tat Hong has subsidiaries in China, and offices in over half a dozen other markets across Asia.

For the first nine months of FY08 to end-December, Tat Hong lifted its net profit by a whopping 65 per cent to $61.4 million, on the back of a 31 per cent rise in revenue to $456.2 million.

By some estimates, the company already controls about a quarter of the local market for cranes. At one stage, two out of every three cranes at work at the integrated resort site in Marina Bay belonged to Tat Hong.

Mr Ng attributes the phenomenal success of this home-grown, family-owned company to its management philosophy.

'We believe in getting the best people - regardless of whether they are family or not - testing them, then letting them run parts of the business, and holding them accountable for the results,' he says. 'We did that at Tutt Bryant, where we had our Australian people running the show independently. We are doing it at our other subsidiaries.'

Another success factor is the vision and boldness to venture into new markets.

'Given Singapore's limited size, we were forced to constantly size up market opportunities across the Asia Pacific and further afield. We also adapt quickly to market demand.'

This approach has resulted in Tat Hong today boasting a global footprint stretching all the way from China, through South-east Asia, to Australia and westwards to the Middle East.

Just as it moved from excavators and earth-moving equipment to higher value-added crawler and tower cranes in the 1980s, it has recently started shifting to the heavier 600, 800 and 1,000-tonne crane category, where there is less competition and strong demand.

'Demand for these bigger cranes has been growing in the infrastructure, oil and gas sectors,' Mr Ng notes.

Meanwhile, the company has also been savvy in investing in other businesses within the same sector. Tutt Bryant was a case in point. But in 2002, Tat Hong bought into loss-making piling specialist CSC Holdings. In 2006, it bought up a division of geospecialist firm L&M.

After turning around the business, Tat Hong sold half its 60 per cent stake in CSC for a huge profit. And the L&M unit, L&M Foundations, is also doing well.

It has also entered into several joint ventures in China over the past year. In January 2007, Tat Hong announced a strategic venture with Beijing Zhongjian Zhenghe Construction Machinery, the largest tower crane rental company in China. Three months later it acquired a 76 per cent stake in Jiangsu China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Machinery, a provider of tower crane rental, heavy lifting equipment and related services with a special focus on the Chinese nuclear energy industry.

These ventures, engineered by Mr Ng, have significantly accelerated Tat Hong's presence in the vast Chinese market.

Recently, it listed one of its China associates, Fushun Yongmao, on the Singapore bourse.

So how long will this amazing run continue?

'You know, the last 200 years belonged to America and Europe,' Mr Ng notes. 'But Asia's time has come. This is Asia's century, and we will see this continent go through the stunning revival and growth that Europe and America experienced over the past two centuries.'

Then the unassuming and cheerful CEO adds: 'Our growth story will track the growth story of Asia. Why? Because we are in the right business, in the right place, and at the right time.'

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