Revolution Precrafted and Bakrie Global Ventura recently signed a US$1.1-B joint venture agreement to develop five mega studios and five hectares of office spaces and storage facilities of Bakrie Global Mediapolis studio project in Jakarta. The partnership between the Philippines’ most valued startup and one of Indonesia’s most innovative conglomerates will likewise see Revolution supply designer homes, hotel villas, and amenity spaces to Bakrie Global’s property affiliates in Indonesia. This includes 3000 hectares of land, owned and developed by the Bakrie Group. Revolution Precrafted Properties Limited delivers high-design structures such as modular homes, prefabricated structures and buildings, as well as pop-up retail and fitness centers.
At the signing were (from left): First Pacific Company Ltd CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan; Bakrie Global Ventura CEO Anindya Novyan Bakrie; Revolution Precrafted Properties CEO Robbie Antonio; and Century Properties Group Chairman and CEO Jose E.B. Antonio.
Seven days in the evolving business of fine art. This week, three cases of the industry treating an extreme as the new normal… Every Monday Tim Schneider, Director of Research at Kayne Griffin Corcoran Gallery and the brains behind The Gray Market Blog, dissects the most important stories of the week from the art market.
SLEEPWALK WITH US
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo by Timothy Neesam, via Flickr.
On Tuesday specialty insurer Hiscox and market-analytics firm ArtTactic released the 2017 edition of their annual Online Art Trade Report. As usual, the study made colossal claims about e-commerce in the industry, including that total estimated sales reached $3.75 billion in 2016—a value alleged to account for “an 8.4 percent share of the overall art market,” based on the cumulative figure assigned by the 2017 TEFAF Art Market report. (You know, that one.) As usual, pundits and insiders around the art business immediately began spreading around these numbers like the clap would tear through a freshman dorm in a latex famine. And as usual, the methodology, which only maniacs like me bother to read, reveals the report to be almost a complete exercise in guesswork.
Since bulleting through every issue I see with Hiscox/ArtTactic’s approach would leave me with no time or ammunition to hit anything else this week, let’s just focus on the two most glaring problems. First, as I’ve written before, many, if not most, of the report’s grand results flow from a kiddie-sized pool of sources. This year, responses came “from 758 art buyers surveyed through ArtTactic’s client mailing list, Twitter, and Facebook.” Largely informed by those 758 anonymous art buyers, Hiscox and ArtTactic felt comfortable making multibillion-dollar proclamations about an industry rightly pegged as “gloriously-opaque” by Robert Read, Hiscox’s Head of Art and Private Clients and, based on this portrait on page 3 of the report…
…humanity’s world champion in obliviousness to camera placement. Even if small samples don’t unsettle you all on their own, ask yourself this: If our threshold for belief in an alleged news item becomes netting 758 responses on social media, won’t we all be living in bunkers, militia-barracks, or prison cells by Memorial Day?
The report’s second major problem bridges both the buy and sell-sides of the data. Regarding the collector survey, Hiscox and ArtTactic disclose the following wrinkle in the proverbial fine print of the methodology (emphasis mine): “Although the central focus is around fine art, we have in this survey also explored online buying habits of OTHER COLLECTIBLES.” Similarly, of the 132 galleries and dealers surveyed for the study, 60 percent “were linked to contemporary art, whilst 40 percent represent a wider selection of dealers in different collectible areas (such as photography, modern and impressionist art, design, furniture, decorative art, antiquities and old masters).” In practice, this means we have literally no idea what proportion of the Hiscox/ArtTactic numbers apply to artwork versus, say, Louis XIV armchairs or Neolithic ritual masks. No matter what a particular reader’s preferred niche may be, indiscriminately blending the data from all these disparate sources into one churning mystery stew makes the end result equally rotten for everyone.
Most important of all, this last flaw isn’t even exclusive to the Hiscox/ArtTactic report. Instead, it reappears to some degree in even the most trusted annual art-market reports, including those from TEFAF and Art Basel/UBS. And yet, after years of analyzing these reports, I can’t recall a single instance of anyone in the art industry ever sounding the alarms about this foundational problem. Instead, it’s been normalized into oblivion. Yes, the fine-art and collectibles markets share many qualities. But for those of us solely concerned with quantifying the art industry, treating all collectible numbers as equal is like treating fun-size candy bars and new toothbrushes as interchangeable to trick-or-treaters because, hey, they’re both prepackaged items you can easily chuck into a sack. But guess what? The kids care about the difference. And if we ever hope to get anything close to accurate big-picture data about the art market, we should too. [Hiscox/ArtTactic]
PRICE POINT OF NO RETURN On Wednesday, NYC mayor Bill de Blasio came out in support of the Met’s making a move it “has been quietly talking to city officials [about] for a year,” per Robin Pogrebin: charging mandatory admission to non-New Yorkers. If the venerable-yet-recently-cash-strapped museum were to make the proposed change, it would represent the first time the Met had demanded anything more than a “suggested” or “recommended” fee since it began receiving state funding in 1893.
I’m not going to pretend that I can tell you definitively whether or not requiring admission for any segment of the population would winch the Met out of the fiscal sinkhole it hydroplaned into with Thomas Campbell behind the wheel. However, I do feel comfortable saying that, if it makes the switch, the Met likely won’t reverse the policy again even after it inevitably rights its balance sheet. Although more and more American art museums seem to go permanently admission-free every month, it’s worth remembering that in 2006 the Art Institute of Chicago, another of the US’s renowned encyclopedic jewels, became one of the few to re-institute a required rate after years of free entry. More telling, the $12 general-admission fee the Art Institute began charging adults back then has, depending on ticket-buyers’ residency status today, ballooned to between $22 and $27. And most troubling of all: As far as I can tell, the initial resistance to the rate-resuscitation (and its subsequent rise) has by now faded into quiet acceptance of the revised status quo. That might be great for any vaunted American museum’s bottom line. But it’s a troubling data point for anyone concerned that the arts are increasingly being herded out of the public eye and into the VIP section. [The New York Times]
ABSOLUTELY PREFABULOUS
Courtesy of Revolution Precrafted Properties
Finally this week, my colleague Eileen Kinsella detailed a new entrepreneurial initiative by Manila-based collector and real-estate developer Robbie Antonio—one that is, in his own words, “really challenging the norm”: prefab private museums. In collaboration with starchitects Jean Nouvel and Christian de Portzamparc, Antonio’s firm, Revolution Precrafted Properties, will begin offering modular permanent-exhibition units that can be mixed and matched based on the needs of any aspiring collector—some of them for under $1 million, and all of them fully buildable in six months to a year. Are you heavy into new-media works? Try copping a few soundproof-room modules. What if your storage unit is swollen with epic sculptures? Just order up the so-called “Big Hall” unit. And if you want your giant Calder to kiss the flesh of the evening, you can even select an open-air courtyard component like the one pictured below. Just make sure no one in the vicinity remembers what the Cloverfield monster looked like.
From a profitability standpoint, I think Antonio’s strategy might be brilliant. At the same time, the sound business logic for backing his enterprise also depresses the hell out of me. With the 21st-century rise of art advisers and, driving that profession’s growth, the proliferation of the buyer class I call COINs—Collectors Only In Name—acquiring artwork has increasingly become an exercise in outsourcing. The socioeconomically ambitious know all too well that, today, a high-end collection is a must-own for any youngblood hoping to be jumped into the established Gulfstream Gang that lords over much of our global capitalist world. But if you’re too much of a neophyte to know the art game, or too busy snorting Adderall and poring over profit & loss statements to do extracurricular research, in-demand advisers can simply deliver you all the instantly recognizable branded works you need for your very own “world-class collection.”
Revolution Precrafted is simply pushing this hands-off trend to the next level. Thanks to the firm’s modular units, COINs don’t just have the luxury of building up their actual artistic holdings with minimal thought. They can also just as effortlessly build out their own private museums—the next logical plutocratic trophy acquisition—by literally ordering a la carte off a developer’s menu. Is this an event of significance in the art market? Absolutely. But will it create a “culture of significance” around the globe, as Antonio hopes his prefab division will do? That’s a proposition I would happily short if given the chance. [artnet News]
That’s all for this week’s edition. Til next time, remember: The biggest changes are sometimes the ones we don’t notice until it’s too late.
Clockwise from left: Revolution Precrafted Properties Founder and CEO Robbie Antonio, Century Properties Group Chairman and CEO Jose E.B. Antonio, Bakrie Global Ventura CEO Anindya Novyan Bakrie, and Bakrie Global Ventura Director and Viva Media Baru President and CEO Anindra Ardiansyah Bakrie at the MOU signing in Manila on April 28.
Century Properties Group (CPG) has teamed up with Indonesian conglomerate Bakrie to develop three master-planned estates in the Philippines – a Media City, a Sports City, and a Technology Corridor – in a bid to strengthen the tourism and media technology sectors of both the Philippines and Indonesia.
The agreement sets the stage for a mutual sharing of resources, from allocating capital investments to the exchange of expertise and skills to embark on these projects.
A third company, Revolution Precrafted Properties Ltd. – a real estate technology startup founded by its chief executive officer Robbie Antonio, son of CPG chair and founder Jose Antonio – also takes part in the cooperation between CPG and Bakrie Global to conceptualize and support the Media City, Sports City as well as the Tech Corridor, the statement said.
As part of the agreement, CPG will seek to provide the land for the three themed master-planned projects.
The memorandum of understanding among the parties was signed on April 28 at the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit. This partnership is seen setting the stage for future collaborations within the ASEAN countries.
Media City is envisioned as a mixed-use development that will host a state-of-the-art multi-media content development center. It is also planned to have residential, retail and other commercial components.
Sports City is planned to offer multiple sports complexes in the country for use by the general public.
The Technology Corridor is envisioned as the Philippines’ own version of California’s Silicon Valley. It is planned to enhance bilateral technology transfers between the two countries, as well as serve as a hub for the country’s tech-centric brain pool.
For Revolution, the deal includes supplying designer homes, hotel villas, and amenity space to Bakrie Global’s property affiliates in Indonesia. There are 3,000 hectares of land, owned and developed by the Bakrie Group, totaling $1.1 billion for the residential and villa component alone.
The partnership is seen to allow Revolution to diversify into producing highly functional and customizable spaces. As part of the signed agreement, Revolution will look to supply five mega studios and five hectares of office spaces and storage facilities to Bakrie Global’s Mediapolis studio project in Jakarta, which shall represent Indonesia’s strong commitment in Creative Industries and advanced broadcasting technologies.
Bakrie Global, for its part, agreed to lend the expertise and resources of its telecommunications, media and technology arm Visi Media Asia, Indonesia’s fastest growing integrated media company, to be involved in the aspects of broadcasting, programming and content creation in Media City for distribution in the Philippines and Indonesia.
“I am very pleased to have this framework of collaborationwith Bakrie Global of Indonesia to develop the Philippines’ first-ever Media City, Sports City, and Technological Corridor. This kind of synergy will help build the Philippines’ competitive edge as a tourism and hospitality destination with modern media and tech capabilities, as well as open a host of opportunities for business and employment,” CPG chair and chief executive officer Jose E.B. Antonio said.
“I am extremely proud to start this partnership with Century Properties Group and Revolution Precrafted, two very innovative companies from the Philippines that share the same vision with Bakrie Group in promoting industries through the creation of relevant developments that address the demands of the times. We look forward to advancing these goals while contributing to the nation-building of our respective countries,” said Bakrie Global Ventura CEO Anindya Novyan Bakrie.
Bakrie Global Ventura is a professional private equity arm of Indonesia’s Bakrie family focusing investment in digital age businesses.
“In its thrust to grow and expand its business from custom precrafted designer homes to creating meaningful public spaces, Revolution Precrafted is fortunate to bring these three companies together to forge this multi-faceted synergy and cooperation for real estate, technology, sports and media. We look forward to this collaboration with one of Indonesia’s largest conglomerates and the Philippines’ most innovative property company,” said Robbie Antonio, CEO of Revolution Precrafted Properties Limited.
Revolution delivers high-design structures such as modular homes, prefabricated stations and buildings, as well as pop-up retail and fitness centers designed by 53 of the world’s best designers, brands and Pritzker prize architects. It recently, raised seed funding from the world’s most prolific venture capital firm, 500 Startups at $256 million valuation.
The night before Donald J. Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States, his recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., serves as the capital’s de facto inner sanctum. Barricades ring the place; if you don’t have a room or a reservation, good luck getting in.
As with any club worth its gilt, secret, concentric rings of exclusivity sit in plain sight, and one starts near the lobby bar, which is lined with bottles of Dom Pérignon and draped with a giant American flag. There, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, Trump’s billionaire Indonesian business partner, sits on a plush sofa, texting with Trump’s billionaire Dubai partner, Hussain Sajwani. Eventually they meet, and Tanoesoedibjo later posts an Instagram picture of himself, Sajwani and their wives mugging for the camera in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel.
Upstairs, Phil Ruffin, Trump’s billionaire partner in Las Vegas, has taken up residence in $18,000-a-night accommodations. The presidential suite, Ruffin says, was reserved for the president-elect. When he later complained about the price to Trump, the president demurred. Ruffin might need that money: His wife, Oleksandra, a former Miss Ukraine, has hit it off with Sajwani’s wife over their mutual love of expensive jewelry.
All told, at least 14 from this community of partners, from Turkey to India to the Philippines, attended the inauguration festivities.
“People often talk about partners as not necessarily friends, almost as if they’re mutually exclusive. ‘If you’re a partner, you’re not a friend, and if you’re a friend, you’re not a partner,’ ” says Eric Trump, the president’s son and co-chief of the Trump Organization, who now sits, with brother Don Jr., at the nexus of this global network. “I think that’s a bad way of thinking.”
All these friends, old and new, mixed with an awesome amount of power and money, do not produce a good recipe for eight hours’ sleep. Joo Kim Tiah, a Malaysian heir who would shortly unveil the world’s newest Trump tower, in Vancouver, eventually complains: “Do you guys know what time it is?” “I’m sorry, Mr. Tiah, we can’t turn the music down,” the hotel staffer responds. “This is once in a lifetime.” Indeed it is. Never has an American president taken office with such immense and complicated assets. Nor has one brought along a busload of rich partners who, by dint of previous deals and brand association, stand to reap profits in real time, as the president serves.
To better understand this global network, Forbes looked into each of these 36 partners, traveling to five countries to interview more than a dozen of them. In the process we made the following discoveries:
A potential business partner in Russia says he exchanged messages with the Trump family as recently as January.
Ruffin and the Trump Organization are considering a Trump casino in Las Vegas, perhaps bolstered by a federally backed high-speed rail connection to Los Angeles—a matter that Ruffin says he’s discussed with the president himself.
Trump’s partner in Indonesia, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, intends to use the Trump playbook to become president of the world’s fourth-most-populous country within ten years.
Trump’s attitude toward Muslims spurred, in part, a family feud among his partners in Turkey.
But perhaps the most interesting tidbit comes in the aggregate. Trump’s network extends to at least 19 countries. And these guys (yes, they’re all men) share a set of consistent traits, even as property developers go. This group is uniformly rich— seven are members of the Forbes Billionaires list; many more claim centimillionaire status. They reflect their partner—a mélange of bombastic marketing, over-the-top style and political connections.
And all of them are trying to figure out, to various degrees, how to cash in on the 45th president.
ERIC TRUMP MOTIONS to a small TV in the corner of his office in Trump Tower. “If I turn on the TV—let’s just see—I will bet you that [my father] will be on the screen in some way, shape or form.” He picks up the remote and clicks the power button. An anchor, fresh off a commercial break, stares straight into the camera: “A hearing in federal court today could allow hundreds of people who were deported under President Trump’s original—”
Eric smiles as he turns off the set. “I see him up there all day, every day. And I realize how big of a magnitude the decisions he makes and the things he has on his plate.”
His father’s presence in the business extends beyond his office television. In January, Trump stood in Trump Tower and announced that he was handing over control of his business to his sons as part of an effort to separate it from his presi- dency—though by putting his assets in a trust, he’s really just parking his holdings rather than divesting from them. And because he knows exactly what assets are in the trust, it’s anything but blind.
A month later, Eric seems to acknowledge this dilemma. One minute, he promises to never talk about the business with his father while he serves in the White House. Less than two minutes later, he says he will update his father on the company’s financials “probably quarterly.”
He also claims that the business is following through on its plan to hand over profits at its hotels from foreign dignitaries to the U.S. Treasury, even though the Trump business partner in Las Vegas says there is no such thing happening at their hotel. The pledge was intended to resolve concerns that the president would violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, a barely litigated section of America’s founding document that prohibits federal officials from receiving “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” A group of legal scholars and bipartisan ethics experts have begun the lengthy process of suing Trump. “He has all of the conflicts of interest that he had before,” says Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush, who is one of the lawyers facing off against him in the suit.
Some of Trump’s foreign partners are already finding themselves politically popular in their home countries. The Philippines’ strongman president, Rodrigo Duterte, appointed Trump partner Jose Antonio to serve as a special envoy to the United States just before Trump’s November victory. In India, billionaire Mangal Lodha is developing a 75-story Trump building while serving as a regional vice president of a major political party. Indonesia’s Tanoesoedibjo is building up a following as he mulls a presidential run.
“We have incredible relationships with the people we do projects with,” Eric Trump says. “You want somebody who trusts you. You want to be able to trust them.”
FOR ALL THE CLUMSINESS around how detached the president is from his business, from a management perspective, little has changed for the foreign partners. Although 85% of Donald Trump’s $3.5 billion fortune is wrapped up in stable buildings and golf courses in the United States, the most dynamic part of his business are its foreign licensing and management deals, which garner an estimated 3% to 5% of revenues without adding any risk. And Eric and Donald Jr. have for years served as deal scouts, logging hundreds of thousands of miles to find and close foreign partnerships. “He gives his sons a lot of autonomy to make the company’s decisions,” says Paulo Figueiredo Filho, who partnered with the Trumps in Brazil. “They were already conducting 90% of the business, even before the presidency.”
The Trump fils took an informal approach to vetting potential partners, relying, like their dad, as much on gut as numbers and analyses. “We’re a little bit of an insular company in that the vast majority of this stuff, we just do ourselves,” Eric says. “The first criterion that we look at if we’re going to do something with somebody else is ‘Are they a good person?’… That’s the way it has to work. If you’re looking at documents, if you’re looking at contracts, something is deeply wrong.”
The brand attracts a certain type of partner—flashy and ambitious. In the Philippines, Jose and Robbie Antonio also designed a beachclub with Paris Hilton. Dubai’s Hussain Sajwani has forged a $3.7 billion fortune selling real estate and tossing in extravagant add-ons, including BMWs and Lamborghinis. In Russia, Emin Agalarov works alongside his billionaire father, Aras, on real estate projects, while also moonlighting as a pop star (Trump once made a cameo in one of his music videos).
These are not the types of businessmen to ignore the fact that they are now tied to the most famous, controversial person in the world. Trump’s own organization has shown how to exploit the moment. During the week-end of the inauguration, guests swarmed the Trump hotel in Washington, D.C., paying upwards of $70,000 for a four-night stay. At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, initiation fees reportedly jumped from $100,000 to $200,000 in January. The property is now worth an estimated $175 million, roughly 15% more than it was six months ago, as its historical significance increases seemingly by the week.
“From a business standpoint, is the presidency beneficial?” Eric Trump says. “You have to look at it both ways. If you’re talking about existing assets, they’re doing amazing. If you’re talking about as a whole, we’ve made sacrifices in order to al- low him—and he’s made sacrifices in order to allow him—to take the biggest office in the world.”
Ditto for his partners. The crew swanning around the inauguration was clearly thrilled, both with the proximity to power and with the opportunities that might afford. Agalarov says he would probably be working on a Trump Tower in Russia if the U.S. real estate mogul hadn’t launched his campaign. A different partner in the nation of Georgia says the Trump Organization asked to cancel its deal in order to comply with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. (It is unclear why the Trump Organization might think its Georgia deal would have caused constitutional issues but not Trump’s other active foreign partnerships. A Trump Organization lawyer wouldn’t comment.) And just before he entered the White House, Trump said Hussain Sajwani offered him $2 billion for a new deal that the president turned down.
In Istanbul, though, the Dogan family tried to terminate their agreement with Trump. In Toronto, partners reportedly tried to remove the Trump name from one of their buildings.
Most partners continue to pledge their support—in private if not publicly. “Today the Trump brand is stronger all over the world,” Agalarov says. Any hard feelings about the canceled tower? “As soon as Mr. Trump got elected, we sent congratulations letters, to which they replied, and we exchanged texts,” Agalarov adds. “He does not forget his friends.”
Trump business partner Robbie Antonio Image: Jason Quibilan for Forbes
Robbie Antonio winds his way through full-scale models of the apartments that he and his father, Jose, are selling in a new residential tower in Manila. The units, which start at $160,000, are accented by cool greys and blues, and like many other Antonio projects, they’re a co-branded affair, featuring minimalistic, Armani-designed interiors.
The Armani partnership is evocative of the Antonio business model. In the 31 years since Jose founded the $230 million-in-annual-sales Century Properties, the Philippine economy has blossomed, and they have responded to the growing demand for increasingly plush apartments and offices with the first condominiums in the Philippines, an ultraluxe Manila tower called Gramercy Residences and a man-made beach with a beach club designed by Paris Hilton. They often work in partnership with Western brands like Armani, Missoni and Versace—and, full disclosure, with Forbes Media. The Antonios broke ground last year on a Forbes-branded Manila office building. A few blocks away from Forbes Tower is a Trump-branded, Antonio-built residential tower. The $150 million, 57-storey tower is nearly ready to open. “Trump has been a very positive experience,” says Robbie. And most of that experience has revolved around the friendship he has forged with the Trump children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr.
The Antonio-Trump relationship has morphed in the last couple of months. Back on October 13, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte named Jose as the Philippines’ special envoy for business and trade to the US. An Antonio spokesman says Jose’s role is a “non-governmental, non-policymaking” position. He says, Jose’s “priority is the enhancement of the Philippines’ and US’s business relations.” And who could better strengthen business relations between the Philippines and a Trump America than a Trump business partner?
(This story appears in the 28 April, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
A previously little-known batch of billionaires And tycoons from Around the world suddenly find themselves in An unprecedented position: how do you cash in on A partnership with the president of the United States of America? from the Avaricious dealmakers to the Abandoned deals, meet the world’s 36 mini-trumps
Image: Clockwise From Top Left: Philip Cheung For Forbes; Jamel Toppin For Forbes; Jason Quibilan For Forbes; Vikas Khot; Tim Pannell For Forbes; Jamel Toppin For Forbes; Donald Trump: Jamel Toppin For Forbes
The night before Donald J Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States, his recently opened Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, serves as the capital’s de facto inner sanctum. Barricades ring the place; if you don’t have a room or a reservation, good luck getting in.
As with any club worth its gilt, secret, concentric rings of exclusivity sit in plain sight, and one starts near the lobby bar, which is lined with bottles of Dom Pérignon and draped with a giant American flag. There, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, Trump’s billionaire Indonesian business partner, sits on a plush sofa, texting with Trump’s billionaire Dubai partner, Hussain Sajwani. Eventually, they meet, and Tanoesoedibjo later posts an Instagram picture of himself, Sajwani and their wives mugging for the camera in the lobby of the Trump International Hotel.
Upstairs, Phil Ruffin, Trump’s billionaire partner in Las Vegas, has taken up residence in $18,000-a-night accommodations. The presidential suite, Ruffin says, was reserved for the president-elect. When he later complained about the price to Trump, the president demurred. Ruffin might need that money: His wife, Oleksandra, a former Miss Ukraine, has hit it off with Sajwani’s wife over their mutual love of expensive jewellery.
All told, at least 14 from this community of partners, from Turkey to India to the Philippines, attended the inauguration festivities. “People often talk about partners as not necessarily friends, almost as if they’re mutually exclusive. ‘If you’re a partner, you’re not a friend, and if you’re a friend, you’re not a partner,’ ” says Eric Trump, the president’s son and co-chief of the Trump Organization, who now sits, with brother Don Jr, at the nexus of this global network. “I think that’s a bad way of thinking.”
All these friends, old and new, mixed with an awesome amount of power and money, do not produce a good recipe for eight hours’ sleep. Joo Kim Tiah, a Malaysian heir who would shortly unveil the world’s newest Trump tower, in Vancouver, eventually complains: “Do you guys know what time it is?”
“I’m sorry, Mr Tiah, we can’t turn the music down,” the hotel staffer responds. “This is once in a lifetime.”
Indeed it is. Never has an American president taken office with such immense and complicated assets. Nor has one brought along a busload of rich partners who, by dint of previous deals and brand association, stand to reap profits in real time, as the president serves.
Image: Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver: Jeff Vinnick / Getty Images; Trump Towers Istanbul: Shutterstock.Com; Azerbaijan Trump International Hotel And Tower Baku: Shutterstock.Com; Uruguay Trump Punta Del Este: Miguel Rojo / AFP / Getty Images
To better understand this global network, Forbes looked into each of these 36 partners, travelling to five countries to interview more than a dozen of them. In the process, we made the following discoveries: • A potential business partner in Russia says he exchanged messages with the Trump family as recently as January. • Ruffin and the Trump Organization are considering a Trump casino in Las Vegas, perhaps bolstered by a federally backed high-speed rail connection to Los Angeles—a matter that Ruffin says he’s discussed with the president himself. • Trump’s partner in Indonesia, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, intends to use the Trump playbook to become president of the world’s fourth-most-populous country within 10 years—and has recently been accused of playing a role in an alleged plot to frame a top Indonesian government official for murder. • Trump’s attitude towards Muslims spurred, in part, a family feud among his partners in Turkey.
But perhaps the most interesting tidbit comes in the aggregate. Trump’s network extends to at least 19 countries. And these guys (yes, they’re all men) share a set of consistent traits, even as property developers go. This group is uniformly rich—seven are members of the Forbes billionaires list; many more claim centimillionaire status. They reflect their partner—a mélange of bombastic marketing, over-the-top style and political connections.And all of them are trying to figure out, to various degrees, how to cash in on the 45th president.
Eric Trump motions to a small TV in the corner of his office in Trump Tower. “If I turn on the TV—let’s just see—I will bet you that [my father] will be on the screen in some way, shape or form.” He picks up the remote and clicks the power button. An anchor, fresh off a commercial break, stares straight into the camera: “A hearing in federal court today could allow hundreds of people who were deported under President Trump’s original—”Eric smiles as he turns off the set. “I see him up there all day, every day. And I realise how big of a magnitude the decisions he makes and the things he has on his plate.”
His father’s presence in the business extends beyond his office television. In January, Trump stood in Trump Tower and announced that he was handing over control of his business to his sons as part of an effort to separate it from his presidency—though by putting his assets in a trust, he’s really just parking his holdings rather than divesting from them. And because he knows exactly what assets are in the trust, it’s anything but blind.
Trump’s network extends to at least 19 countries. and these guys (yes, they’re all men) share a set of traits
A month later, Eric seems to acknowledge this dilemma. One minute, he promises to never talk about the business with his father while he serves in the White House. Less than two minutes later, he says he will update his father on the company’s finan-cials “probably quarterly”.
He also claims that the business is following through on its plan to hand over profits at its hotels from foreign dignitaries to the US Treasury, even though the Trump business partner in Las Vegas says there is no such thing happening at their hotel. The pledge was intended to resolve concerns that the president would violate the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, a barely litigated section of America’s founding document that prohibits federal officials from receiving “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state”. A group of legal scholars and bipartisan ethics experts have begun the lengthy process of suing Trump. “He has all of the conflicts of interest that he had before,” says Richard Painter, the former chief ethics lawyer for George W Bush, who is one of the lawyers facing off against him in the suit.
Some of Trump’s foreign partners are already finding themselves politically popular in their home countries. The Philippines’ strongman president, Rodrigo Duterte, appointed Trump partner Jose Antonio to serve as a special envoy to the US just before Trump’s November victory. In India, billionaire Mangal Lodha is developing a 75-storey Trump building while serving as a regional vice president of a major political party. Indonesia’s Tanoesoedibjo is building up a following as he mulls a presidential run.
“We have incredible relationships with the people we do projects with,” Eric Trump says. “You want somebody who trusts you. You want to be able to trust them.”
For all the clumsiness around how detached the president is from his business, from a management perspective, little has changed for the foreign partners. Although 85 percent of Donald Trump’s $3.5 billion fortune is wrapped up in stable buildings and golf courses in the US, the most dynamic part of his business are its foreign licensing and management deals, which garner an estimated 3-5 percent of revenues without adding any risk. And Eric and Donald Jr have for years served as deal scouts, logging hundreds of thousands of miles to find and close foreign partnerships. “He gives his sons a lot of autonomy to make the company’s decisions,” says Paulo Figueiredo Filho, who partnered with the Trumps in Brazil. “They were already conducting 90 percent of the business, even before the presidency.”
The Trump fils took an informal approach to vetting potential partners, relying, like their dad, as much on gut as numbers and analyses. “We’re a little bit of an insular company in that the vast majority of this stuff, we just do ourselves,” Eric says. “The first criterion that we look at if we’re going to do something with somebody else is ‘Are they a good person?’ . . . That’s the way it has to work. If you’re looking at documents, if you’re looking at contracts, something is deeply wrong.”
The brand attracts a certain type of partner—flashy and ambitious. In the Philippines, Jose and Robbie Antonio also designed a beachclub with Paris Hilton. Dubai’s Hussain Sajwani has forged a $3.7 billion fortune selling real estate and tossing in extravagant add-ons, including BMWs and Lamborghinis. In Russia, Emin Agalarov works alongside his billionaire father, Aras, on real estate projects, while also moonlighting as a pop star (Trump once made a cameo in one of his music videos).
These are not the types of businessmen to ignore the fact that they are now tied to the most famous, controversial person in the world. Trump’s own organisation himself has shown how to exploit the moment. During the weekend of the inauguration, guests swarmed the Trump hotel in Washington, DC, paying upwards of $70,000 for a four-night stay. At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, initiation fees reportedly jumped from $100,000 to $200,000 in January. The property is now worth an estimated $175 million, roughly 15 percent more than it was six months ago, as its historical significance increases seemingly by the week.
“From a business standpoint, is the presidency beneficial?” Eric Trump says. “You have to look at it both ways. If you’re talking about existing assets, they’re doing amazing. If you’re talking about as a whole, we’ve made sacrifices in order to allow him—and he’s made sacrifices in order to allow him—to take the biggest office in the world.”
Ditto for his partners. The crew swanning around the inauguration was clearly thrilled, both with the proximity to power and with the opportunities that might afford. Agalarov says he would probably be working on a Trump Tower in Russia if the US real estate mogul hadn’t launched his campaign. A different partner in the nation of Georgia says the Trump Organization asked to cancel its deal in order to comply with the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
(It is unclear why the Trump Organization might think its Georgia deal would have caused constitutional issues but not Trump’s other active foreign partnerships. A Trump Organization lawyer wouldn’t comment.) And just before he entered the White House, Trump said Hussain Sajwani offered him $2 billion for a new deal that the president turned down. In Istanbul, though, the Dogan family tried to terminate their agreement with Trump. In Toronto, partners reportedly tried to remove the Trump name from one of their buildings.
Most partners continue to pledge their support—in private if not publicly. “Today, the Trump brand is stronger all over the world,” Agalarov says. Any hard feelings about the cancelled tower? “As soon as he got elected, we sent congratulations letters, to which they replied, and we exchanged texts,” Agalarov adds. “He does not forget his friends.”
(This story appears in the 28 April, 2017 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
After securing millions of dollars in funding from global tech giant 500 Startups, prominent Philippines property developer Robbie Antonio believes his one-year-old venture could soon become the country’s first unicorn — a company worth $1 billion.
Revolution Precrafted, which launched in December 2015, ships “precrafted homes” created by renowned designers like Lenny Kravtiz’s Kravitz Design to property developers and homebuyers around the world within 90 days of ordering.
“We’re changing the landscape of home building,” Antonio told Tech in Asia.
“Now you have the world’s best architects at your fingertips for an affordable price.
“We’re applying the home as an art concept as well. They’re collectibles.”
According to Tech in Asia, Antonio’s startup wasn’t even raising capital when global tech giant 500 Startups invested $US15.4 million ($20 million) in it earlier this month.
And why would it need investors, considering the business has generated over $US110 million ($143.3 million) in sales already?
Revolution Precrafted homes cost an average of $US120,000 ($156,331) a pop, and Antonio believes the global market opportunity for this is $US100 billion ($130.3 billion).
With the company now valued at US$256 million, Antonio said venture capital investors were super keen to get involved.
“I wanted to have a cross-border transaction business,” says Antonio.
“That’s what makes it really geared towards being, I believe, the first Philippine unicorn.”
500 Startup managing partner Khailee Ng said the deal, which also involved some angel investors, saw the investors fighting for a ‘yes’ instead of the founder.
“Our seed companies rarely have US$100 million [$130 million] product bookings and enough finances,” Ng tells Tech in Asia.
“[Revolution Precrafted] didn’t need to raise. I had to convince them to take my money for value-add, not cash.”
Antonio is also the managing director of Philippines-based family real estate group Century Properties and he ranks among the world’s top 100 art collectors, next to Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and Sheikha Al-Mayassa, a member of Qatar’s ruling family.
“I’m almost obsessed with design and architecture,” Antonio said.
“I believe in design democratisation. It should not just be the upper echelons who should be able to afford great architecture.”
A new concept of living. Light, mobile, sustainable, designer. These are micro prefabricated houses signed by stars of architecture and design. Ready for use, they can be ordered and delivered, at home, to any destination on the planet.
The idea comes from Robbie Antonio, a forty-year-old from Manila with a family fortune in the real estate world. And a dream: “accessible architecture”, and very signed, for everyone. “With my Revolution Precrafted I want to bring a Pritzker Prize into everyone’s life,” he explains. “My prefabricated houses are a small revolution: the pret-a-porter of great architecture”.
Using sophisticated technologies and optimizing production costs, Revolution Precrafted manages to make the architecture of the great masters democratic. For now, Antonio has enlisted 40 personalities, including archistars and designers. The latest project, Simple by Jean Nouvel, was presented in Paris, at the Tuileries. But the legend Zaha Hadid, Ron Arad, Jurgen H. Mayer, Daniel Libeskind, Kengo Kuma, the Campana brothers, Marcel Wanders and Tom Dixon also participated.
Among the most interesting examples is the Modular Living Unit by Paulo Mendez Da Rocha + METRO, a flexible system that can be used in a variety of contexts and environments: urban and rural, tropical and temperate. Composed of living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and verandas, it allows you to create different spatial combinations through multiple units. And it can also be extended over several floors. The structural elements that compose it are sized to allow ease of transport and to minimize the equipment during installation.
Matilda Home by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas is a mobile prefabricated housedesigned for any location in the world. The unit’s design allows multiple modules to form a large cloud, with no size limitations: it can be a city, a landscape or simply a house.
Philip Johnson/Alan Ritchie Architects’ Modular Glass House, inspired by the American architect’s masterpiece, has been redesigned as a series of modular components that can be pre-manufactured and shipped. The design follows the principles of the original architecture with greater lightness and flexibility.
In 2016, glamping , where you can spend an elegant time in nature , was a big hit. The momentum is likely to continue in 2017, but maybe you can enjoy gorgeous camping in a tent like this? ・The “Ohm” type wooden tent “Armadillo Tea Canopy” is an armadillo type tent designed by industrial designer Ron Arad . For Japanese people, the shape is more reminiscent of Om from “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” rather than Armadillo. It looks great in nature ♡ – Not only can it be used outdoors like a single roof, but it can also be used by dividing it into parts. It looks comfortable when used for afternoon tea or outdoors! “Armadillo Tea Canopy” is a concept design exhibited at “Revolution Precrafted Properties” , which collects excellently designed houses and tents, but it seems that fun will spread if it is sold to the general public. Revolution Precrafted Properties (Armadillo Tea Canopy)
