New shareholders injecting vitality, Zhou Xianda hopes EcoFirst can unlock its value.

EcoFirst Group, a well-established industrial company (ECOFIRS, 3557, main board industrial stock), welcomed a new major shareholder this year, the business management expert Zhou Xianda. This opens up more possibilities for the company's future development.

Zhou Xianda became a member of EcoFirst Group on May 3rd this year and was appointed as an executive director on May 23rd.

Over the next 4 months, he gradually increased his shareholding in the company, with the most recent increase on September 24th, raising his stake to 8.05%.

At the age of 50, Zhou Xianda holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from Open University Malaysia and a Master's degree in Business Management from a dual German international technology university.

Zhou Xianda started his business in 2001, founding multiple companies with partners, mainly engaged in various international trade businesses.

After joining EcoFirst Group for 5 months, Zhou Xianda accepted an interview with "Eastern Industry GPS", sharing his reasons for investing in this industrial company and his future expectations.

With over 50 years of history, the EcoFirst Group is engaged in industrial development, investment, and management business, with a current market capitalization of 400.59 million ringgit.

In addition to constructing residences (such as bungalows and luxury apartments) and commercial units, the company also invests in shopping centers.

Zhou Xianda stated that one of the most valuable assets of EcoFirst Group is a piece of land located in Anbang.

"EcoFirst Group holds a 70-acre piece of land in Anbang. For the future development of a new project, it is only a few hundred meters away from one of the stations of the MRT Line 3, which can be reached on foot."

Zhou Xianda continued to say that the reason he invested in EcoFirst Group is because he is bullish on the investment value and development space of this piece of land in Anbang, believing that it can bring huge returns in the future.

MRT Corporation publicly displayed the development blueprint of MRT 3 in September this year and sought feedback from the public.

Zhou Xianda believes that MRT 3 is not only a large-scale infrastructure project but also part of the Greater Kuala Lumpur plan. Once the project is successfully implemented, improving railway public transportation will increase the development value of the surrounding areas' industries.

He added that there are very few prime pieces of land left in Kuala Lumpur for development. Therefore, EcoFirst Group will make good use of the existing land bank. The Anbang land will undergo a town development project in the future, expected to take at least 10 years.

"The current total value of Anbang's property development project is estimated to be 8 billion Malaysian Ringgit, but it will be adjusted according to future trends."

To better align with environmental, social, and governance (esg) factors, Zhou Xianda revealed that 25% of the above mentioned Anbang land parcel (70 acres) will be preserved in its original state, with a focus on greenery as a selling point, and plans related to this are expected to be rolled out within the next 2 years.

Regardless, Zhou Xianda emphasized that the Anbang land parcel is a long-term development project, with the company focusing on property sector projects in the near term.

The property sector project covers an area of 1.8236 acres, with a total development value of 30.80 million Ringgit. Completion is expected within 3 to 4 years.

In addition, EcoFirst Group's new KL 48 project, with 90% of units already subscribed, has off-book sales of around 0.6 billion to 0.7 billion Ringgit, which will support performance for the next few years.