- Carrian Group
The Carrian Group was a Hong Kong conglomerate founded by George Tan, a Singaporean Civil Engineer working in Hong Kong as a project manager for a land development company. The Group's principal holding company Carrian Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 1977.
In January 1980, the group, through a 75% owned subsidiary, purchased Gammon House (a commercial Office building, now Bank of America Tower) in
Central District , Hong Kong for $998 Mln. It grabbed the limelight in April 1980 when it announced the sale of Gammon House for a staggering HK$1.68 Bln, a price that surprised Hong Kong's Property and Financial markets and developed public interest in Carrian.In the same year, Carrian capitalized 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 theUnited States . At its peak, the Carrian Group owned businesses in Real Estate, Finance, Shipping, Insurance (China Insurance Underwriters Ltd), Hotels, Catering and Transportation (A Taxi fleet that was the largest ever in Hong Kong).Following allegations of accounting fraud, a murder of a bank auditor, and the suicide of the firm's adviser, the Carrian Group collapsed in 1983, the largest bankruptcy in Hong Kong.
Of the group's numerous businesses, only the Carriana Restaurant remains.
External links
Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (HK-ICAC) [http://www.icac.org.hk/new_icac/eng/cases/carrian/carrian.html Report on Carrian]
Philip Bowring 's summary article on [http://www.bowring.net/scmplaundry.htm Carrian]
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