Malaysian tycoon stresses over Vancouver project with Trump

Malaysian property developer Tiah Joo Kim got way more than he bargained for when he signed a licensing deal to use the Trump brand on the Trump International Hotel and Tower that is opening today in the Canadian city of Vancouver.

Prices for condominiums in the sleek 69-story building designed by one of Canada's top architects have set records. But police are expecting protests by many who object to having a major Trump-branded property as a city landmark when the president's two oldest sons officially open the tower today.

Joo Kim's Holborn Development struck the licensing deal before Trump's political ascent. He says he's now "locked" into his licensing agreement, with no legal grounds to back out of the deal, whose terms have not been released.
 

"There would be severe legal implications," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview.

Joo Kim, 37, is the son of tycoon Tony Tiah Thee Kian, one of Malaysia's richest men and a staunch Christian who built his fortune in stockbroking in the 1990s before expanding into real estate.

Groomed to inherit the family business, last year Joo Kim was appointed CEO of its property arm TA Global. He also runs the Canadian-based Holborn Group.

Raised in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, he studied at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and earned a master's degree in international business at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

When he set the deal with Trump in 2013, Joo Kim was banking on the staying power and cachet of his brand.

"I wanted a brand that would get me a lot of attention so that the public would, in turn, be impressed with me knowing I am responsible for the product," Joo Kim told the Malaysian newspaper The Star in an interview last year.

He has a picture on Instagram of himself at Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, along with a picture of his ticket for the Liberty Ball, one of three balls the president attended.

Joo Kim has profited from the partnership: TA Global reported it earned USD 10.4 million from the Vancouver Trump project in 2015, representing 57 per cent of its total profit. But in his recent interview with the AP, Joo Kim says he found Trump's statements about Muslims, Mexicans and women "extremely stressful.