Education
He was a champion sprinter and long jumper.
He was a champion sprinter and long jumper.
In 1980, Hotel Properties was formed as a private limited company to purchase the Hilton hotel for S$72 million, with Fu as the majority shareholder and Ong as managing director. The incorporation of Hotel Properties in 1980 and its subsequent listing two years later marked the beginning of Ong’s move into the property, hotel, retail and lifestyle sectors. The company quickly acquired properties and hotels, especially those on prime plots in Orchard Road, and formed a joint venture with the Four Seasons chain of hotels in 1984. Globally, it also acquired hotels in cities like London, Montreal, Texas and Perth.
Ong was reportedly behind HPL's move to acquire two plots of land along Orchard Boulevard from tycoon Khoo Teck Puat for S$61.4 million in 1987, and the company was involved in three of the largest property deals the following year. By 1992, Hotel Properties controlled four hotels in the prime Orchard and Tanglin areas, and had built a number of luxury condominiums. Ong’s private companies, Savu Investments and Savu Properties, also developed commercial and office properties in the business district.
Together with his wife, Ong began to make inroads into the fashion world in the 1990s. Christina Ong’s Club 21 chain took on the distribution of designer clothing labels such as Armani jeans in the United States and the United Kingdom, and held the rights for DKNY products.
In 2007, Ong clinched the deal to bring the F1 race to Singapore after a year of negotiations, due in large part to his friendship with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.
