The company, which is privately held and en route to an initial public offering (IPO) this year, believed that one of the immediate opportunities arising from Brexit is the depreciation in the pound sterling.

EWI chief executive officer Teow Leong Seng told a press conference here that the weakness of the pound could boost its IPO plans.

“We did not anticipate the Brexit outcome and this has led to a weakness in the pound, but we think this event has its positives.

“The immediate positive for us is that we are going into this listing targeting to raise 2.6 billion ringgit (US$631.61 million). The weakness of the pound will give us 10 per cent more firepower (from the proposed funds to be raised) when we go to London.

“Our international buyers have immediately gotten a 10 per cent reduction in whatever they bought in London. We think sales will continue to be strong,” he added.

Generally, about 40 per cent of the purchasers of EWI’s projects in London are outside the United Kingdom and about 50 per cent of the buyers are in that country.

Teow also believed that London would continue to be a “primary real estate destination” post-Brexit.

“London has its advantages and the strength of the city is still intact. Moving forward, when we look at sites to acquire, we will be careful to try to understand what is going on with Brexit. And the sites that we look at will automatically have a 10 per cent reduction.

“We believe the weakness of the pound will prompt investors to look at the UK now because it has suddenly become cheaper,” he added.

EWI executive vice-chairman Kee Sin concurred that there were opportunities to be tapped from the weakness of the pound.

“If prices come back to post-Battersea levels, it will become a very good buy in London. At the end of the day, it is about land costs and selling prices. In a developed economy like the UK and Australia, the selling prices are quite fixed.

“Every developer sells and construction costs are more or less at the same price because the inflation rate is stable,” Liew said.

“If land prices are dropping, then it is a good time to buy provided you have the cash.

“We are not looking to buy at the moment,” he added.

Teow said the reaction to Brexit could be momentary and the longer-term effects would eventually be seen.

“Actually, the market has already settled and things seem to have stabilised.

“Our sales have been very strong in the UK and continue to be so. As long as sales continue to be strong and costs are kept under control, it will have no impact on our numbers,” he said.

Liew said that crises such as the Brexit come and go, but the resilient spirit of the people to overcome must not be overlooked.

“We should take comfort in how the world has evolved. In 2008/2009, when the subprime crisis struck the United States. The country pumped in trillions into the economy to buy all the bad debts. But look at America now, it has a top currency that is demanded by everybody and the country has recovered.

“You must believe in the spirit of entrepreneurship of how people overcome hurdles and move on and history proves this,” Liew added.

On the impending listing of EWI, Teow said that an international player has expressed interest to take up a stake the “same size” as Eco World Development Group Bhd (EWB), which has caused it to make adjustments in the listing proposal.

“As we were looking for cornerstone investors wanting to take up 2 per cent or 3 per cent, we chanced upon this investor who wanted a stake that is the same size as EWB. A stake of the same size would make them co-anchors,” said Teow.

EWI is majority-owned by Liew and upon listing, EWB has proposed to take a stake of between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

It had been speculated that Guocoland Ltd of Singapore, which is controlled by Quek Leng Chan of the Hong Leong group, had expressed interest to be anchor investor in EWI together with EWB.

Teow said that the co-anchor investor was not asking for any management position and only wanted board representation.

Liew added that EWI would continue to be led by the present management.

He also said that the entry of a co-anchor investor was a major change, as it would mean two brand names for EWI.