The story
Founded by George Tan in 1977.1
Carrian was founded in 1977 by George Tan Soon-gin, who fled Singapore following a bankruptcy in 1974.
In 1979, Tan acquired a holding company that became his Carrian Investment Limited (CIL) for HK$700 million. Carrian Holdings Limited (CHL), a private company, controlled 53% of CIL equity, and Carrian Nominee, a company held 100% of CHL shares.
In January 1980, the group, through a 75% owned subsidiary, purchased Gammon House (now Bank of America Tower) in Central District, Hong Kong for HK$998 million. It was then the most expensive real estate transaction in the Hong Kong's history. It grabbed the limelight in April 1980 when it announced the sale of Gammon House for HK$1.68 billion, a high return on investment that surprised Hong Kong's property and financial markets and developed public interest in Carrian.
In the same year, Carrian capitalised on its notoriety by acquiring a publicly listed Hong Kong company, renaming it Carrian Investments Ltd., and using it as a vehicle to raise funds from the financial markets.
The group grew rapidly in the early 1980s to include properties in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, and the United States. Its rapid expansion has led to rumors over the source of its capital, with various rumors speculating the capital came from Imelda Marcos, Gosbank, and a lumber corporation in Borneo.
From Wikipedia’s article on Carrian Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3