TAN Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon, the chairman and non-executive director of Marco Holdings Bhd. is widely known as the “Casio King” — he is the first and only distributor in the country of the brand’s watches and calculators. But many would not know that the elusive tycoon once went door to door persuading retailers to sell his products.
Marco distributes Casio watches, calculators, digital cameras and musical instruments — imported from Japan — in Malaysia. Tan is the single largest shareholder with 25.64% equity interest.
His history with the Casio brand goes back to 1970.
According to him, Marco’s business relationship with the Tokyo-based Casio Computer Co Ltd is built on trust and faith, and not a fixed contract with a stipulated timeframe.
Marco’s management team still visits Casio regularly and both sides remain in constant communication.
When Tan started selling Casio watches and calculators 51 years ago, nobody had much confidence in Japanese products. The Japanese cars brougt into the country earlier were even jokingly referred to as “Milo cans”.
Fortunately, he managed to pique the public’s interest and get them interested in Casio watches as digital timepieces were not very common in those days.
As for the perception issue, Japanese products became known for their quality instead of being objects of derision. Japanese cars won fans gradually for their quality and reliability and were no longer mocked as being “Milo cans”.
Tan acknowledges that there are many players in the market who want to get hold of the Casio distributorship, but he is confident Marco is more than capable of defending its turf.
But even if a competitor gets the distributorship, he points out that it would be difficult to build as strong a network as Marco’s. Today, the company has a nationwide distributorship network comprising about 2,300 dealers.
On future trends, Tan believes watches are not likely to be replaced by smartwatches as they are a fashion item and not worn just to keep time.
Low-profile Tan Sri Robert Tan Hua Choon is a self-made tycoon who has been involved in a wide range of businesses, including manufacturing, marketing, banking, shipping, property development and trading.
Apart from being known as the “Casio king,” he is also called the small cap king because of the substantial stakes he has built up in small listed companies, including Marco Holdings Bhd (MARCO), Jasa Kita Bhd (JASKITA), JKG Land Bhd (JKGLAND), FCW Holdings Bhd (FCW) and Computer Forms (M) Bhd (CFM).
He is currently the chairman of all these companies except for Computer Forms.
Tan, 80, came to the fore in 2009 when he undertook a surprise takeover of sanitary waremaker GBH, buying out the founding Goh family after a fierce shareholder tussle. He then sold his controlling stake to Datuk Seri Edwin Tan Pei Seng and his younger brother Datuk Seri Godwin Tan Pei Poh in September 2017, and the company renamed to Paragon Globe Bhd (PGLOBE) in April 2018. He still owns a 18,332,600 shares or 9.821%% stake in the company.
The seasoned businessman was back in the limelight seven years ago when he exited Malaysia Aica Bhd (Maica) and PDZ Holdings Bhd.
In early 2014, he sold his entire stake in Maica to Tan Sri Ter Leong Yap for RM33.39 million, paving the way for the wood product manufacturer to become a property developer, now known as Sunsuria Bhd (SUNSURIA).
Subsequently, Tan exited PDZ in April 2014, with Pelaburan MARA Bhd emerging as a substantial shareholder in the shipping agency and vessel operator.
Today, Tan still has 25.64% equity interest in Marco (distributor of Casio products), 40.33% in Jasa Kita (distributor of premium industrial tools), 30.61% in FCW (wholesaler of cosmetics, toiletries and pharmaceutical products).
He also has a 15.41% stake in property firm JKG Land, formerly known as Keladi Maju Bhd. The company has been involved in property development for more than three decades, building mainly residential units, offices and light industrial factories.
Tan surfaced October 2016 in Computer Forms as a substantial shareholder with a 64.969% stake. The company prints and distributes computer, stock and specialised forms.
26 August 2020, Tan sold his stake in GPA to GALAXY COAST VENTURES LIMITED and soon renamed to Joe Holdings Bhd (JOE).
shareholdings:
11.1500% FCW(2755) as at 20 Sep 2022
40.3300% JASKITA(8648) as at 18 Jul 2022
25.5800% JKGLAND(6769) as at 10 May 2022
00.4446% JOE(7096) as at 30 Jun 2022
25.6400% MARCO(3514) as at 01 Apr 2022
09.8210% PGLOBE(3611) as at 04 Jul 2022
updated 20 December 2022.
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