Ray White has broadened its service offering with the launch of a new division.
Sydney-based business division, ‘Ray White Commercial Asian Investment Services’ (known as ‘Ray White AIS), is a new initiative from the team at Ray White Commercial Western Sydney.
It was borne out of a need to provide a fully integrated commercial property advisory service for Sydney’s Asian investors.
Victor Sheu will head up the division as Head of AIS.
“The increasing flexibility of a globalised world means we often see our clients moving between Australia and Asia seamlessly,” Mr Sheu said.
“These clients need the comfort of knowing their investments are being responsibly and optimally managed. AIS meets that need as a bespoke service that spans the full lifecycle of commercial property investment.”
Joining the team is Andrew Vines (Director of Sales and Leasing) who has spent many years living in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Samuel Gong, a vastly experienced agent able to work seamlessly across asset management, sales, and leasing.
Vee Li also joins the AIS team as a Business Development Executive with strong marketing and communications experience.
With the team able to provide services in Mandarin and English (with the intent to add more languages as the need arises), Ray White Commercial believes AIS can go above and beyond current offerings with a service that starts at the acquisition of a commercial asset.
It then runs through to development/feasibility advice, then on to leasing services, tenant selection, and then finally into long-term management and care for the asset until such time as the property is sold, and the investment lifecycle begins again.
“It’s a well-known fact that Australia (and Sydney in particular) is a locale of choice for Asian investors,” said Peter Vines, Managing Director of Ray White Commercial Western Sydney (and now also of Ray White AIS).
“What is perhaps less recognised in the commercial market is Asian investors are increasingly choosing to live and raise their families here in Australia, while also continuing to build their generational wealth on the stability of commercial property investment.
“As we continued to attract Mandarin-speaking clients to our property management business, we noticed a real deficit of competent Mandarin-speaking commercial property managers.
“We saw that many of our Chinese clients had previously had their assets managed by residential agents that could speak the language but simply didn’t understand the complexities of commercial property.
“With the ever-changing legislative environment for commercial property and the current COVID-19 situation, it’s hugely important asset managers are across these changes, and that important pieces of information are not lost in translation.
“As a family-owned and operated business ourselves, we knew AIS was the answer to our Asian clients’ needs. We pride ourselves on building long-term business relationships, founded on trust, honesty, and loyalty.
“Now we can also offer all services in Mandarin, we’re very hopeful that our Asian clientele will view AIS as the ‘go-to’ trusted advisor for all their commercial property investments.”
Ray White Commercial Head of Agency Operations, Andrew Freeman, said he was pleased to welcome the new division and said it highlighted Ray White Commercial’s ability to provide the market with a diverse and targeted offering.
“This is such an important market within our commercial business. It’s a natural progression in our continued growth ambitions by expanding the service offering to our clients,” Mr Freeman said.
“I’m already impressed by the strong presence that’s been created by Peter and Victor for the Ray White Commercial brand in Western Sydney.
“With this launch of Ray White AIS, and by bringing in big names like Andrew and Samuel, the future is both bright and exciting for this team and for Ray White Commercial as a whole.”
