CapitaLand aligns brand name in Chinese to 'Kai de'

SINGAPORE - Singapore's real estate major CapitaLand announced Friday that it will align its brand name in Chinese to "Kai de" with immediate effect.

The change means that both CapitaLand Limited and CapitaLand Group, which formerly pronounced "Jia de zhi di" and "Jia de zhi di ji tuan" respectively in Chinese, will change to "Kai de ji tuan" in the future.

The company said some of their businesses in China are already using the name "Kai de", citing CapitaLand China and CapitaMalls Asia that are pronounced "Kai de zhong guo" and "Kai de shang yong " in Chinese respectively.

Earlier report has revealed that CapitaLand will realign its organizational structure to have a sharper focus on key markets such as China and Singapore and businesses such as shopping malls and serviced residences.

The company clarified that the brand name change in Chinese is "to further simplify the names of the realigned organization and for consistency".

Last December, the CapitaLand's "Kai de" trademark was certified as a "Chinese Well-known Mark" by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce of China, which made the company the first foreign real estate company to be conferred this honorary certification. "No more than 10 real estate companies nation-wide have enjoyed such an honor," the company added.

The largest developer in Southeast Asia will have four main businesses, namely CapitaLand Singapore, CapitaLand China, CapitaMalls Asia and The Ascott Limited, according to earlier reports. The services residences across the different geographical locations will be operated by The Ascott Limited, while the shopping malls will be put under CapitaMalls Asia.

The company said it is making "a strategic review" of its investment in Australand and will also reassess its commercial and residential investments in Britain, India and the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, a six-member bloc in the Middle East.

China now accounts for slightly less than half of the company's total assets, followed by Singapore.

Lim Ming Yan, the company's new president and chief executive officer, has said that China is still in the process of ongoing urbanization and CapitaLand still has something to offer in China' s pursuit of high-quality urbanization. Lim used to head the company's China businesses for a decade.