Boustead Singapore Limited (SGX: F9D) is an engineering services group listed on the

Singapore Exchange The Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) is a Singaporean investment holding company that provides different services related to securities and derivatives trading and others. SGX is also a member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Asian ...

. Headquartered in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The group's engineering divisions specialise in energy-related engineering, water & wastewater engineering and industrial real estate solutions. Boustead also has a geo-spatial technology arm which distributes

Esri Esri (; Environmental Systems Research Institute) is an American multinational geographic information system (GIS) software company. It is best known for its ArcGIS products. With a 43% market share, Esri is the world's leading supplier of GIS ...

geographic information systems to major markets across Australia and South East Asia. Boustead is listed on the MSCI Global Small Cap Index for Singapore and the FTSE ST Small Cap Index.

History

Early history

Edward Boustead Edward Boustead (1800–1888) was an English businessman and philanthropist, who founded Boustead & Co and played an active role in the development of Singapore as a business and trading centre. Boustead was born in Yorkshire, England. He was t ...

, an English businessman, founded

Boustead & Co Boustead & Co. is an asset management and corporate finance company created by Edward Boustead in 1828 that still exists today. History In 1828, Edward Boustead arrived in Singapore on board the British ship ''Hindustan''. In the same year, he e ...

in 1828. The

trading company Trading companies are businesses working with different kinds of products which are sold for consumer, business, or government purposes. Trading companies buy a specialized range of products, maintain a stock or a shop, and deliver products to custo ...

specialised in import and export, offering goods such as banca tin, spices, saps, rattan, medicinal herbs, silk and tea widely available in

South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

in exchange for Western products like cloth, oil and machinery. With the development of a wide trading network in Singapore, trade credit and finance became increasingly important to banks, merchants, manufacturers and traders. Boustead & Co, being one of the largest trading houses of the Far East, was the first agent for

Hongkong and Shanghai Bank The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (), commonly known as HSBC (), was the parent entity of the multinational HSBC banking group until 1991, and is now its Hong Kong-based Asia-Pacific subsidiary. The largest bank in Hong ...

in Singapore, offering banking facilities, accepting and discounting bills, giving loans and accepting deposits.

Establishment of commodity markets

By 1899, Singapore had become the world's main exporter of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

. Boustead & Co played a leading role as promoter and investor in the tin smelting facility on

Pulau Brani Pulau Brani is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore, near Keppel Harbour. The island is situated between the main island of Singapore and the resort island of Sentosa, and is linked to the mainland via Brani Terminal Avenue. The a ...

, constructed by the Straits Trading Company. From that point onwards, Straits Tin became one of the leading businesses of Boustead & Co. During the late 1880s, Boustead & Co introduced

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

trees into Malaysia using seeds germinated by Sir Henry Wickham at London's Botanical Gardens located in Kew. Boustead & Co went on to be a leading rubber plantation manager and owner in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, acting as secretaries, registrars and agents for 49 plantations with a total planted area of . The company played a pioneering role in the development of commodity markets for tin,

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, rubber and

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

, among other commodities. All of these commodities played important roles in global development and industrialisation. In 1892, Boustead handled the first shipment of bulk oil to Penang. Shortly after, the Shell Trading and Transport Company was formed. Isaac Henderson, a Boustead partner was one of the founding directors of the new company, now known simply as

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

. Boustead & Co represented Shell in its products including kerosene, motor spirit and fuel oil for shipping in Singapore and Penang, along with fabricating many installations for Shell's facility on

Pulau Bukom Pulau Bukom, also known as Pulau Bukum ( zh, 毛广岛; ta, புளு புகோம்), is a small restricted-access island belonging to Singapore that is located about five kilometres to the south of Mainland Singapore, off the Strait ...

Shipping and marketing business

By the 1860s, Boustead & Co entered the shipping and insurance business, to capture trading opportunities arising from the opening of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

. The company's shipping division was the largest in Singapore, with 1,000 vessels in port which represented 60 owners and handled 500,000 tonnes per year. Boustead represented over 20 major shipping lines and numerous insurance agencies including the renowned Lloyd's, which Boustead represented for more than one century. Later on, the company diversified into businesses such as estate management, marketing and mining. The marketing division was the brand agent responsible for introducing some of the world's greatest brands to Singapore and the region. Boustead built a reputation as one of the most sought-after managing agencies of the Far East, and distributed and marketed brands such as

Baileys Baileys Irish Cream is an Irish cream liqueur, an alcoholic drink flavoured with cream, cocoa and Irish whiskey. It is made by Diageo at Nangor Road, in Dublin, Ireland and in Mallusk, Northern Ireland. It is the original Irish cream, invente ...

Bacardi Bacardi Limited (; ) is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Originally known for its Bacardi brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 an ...

Cadbury's Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mars ...

, Del Monte, Dornbracht, Dow Consumer Products, Dupont Corian,

Gillette Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...

Hennessy Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, which has its headquarters in Cognac, France. It is one of the "big four" cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together ma ...

, Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical, Jacobs Manufacturing,

Jim Beam Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohibition), seven generations of the Beam family have be ...

, Jockey,

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended ...

, Kao, Lloyd's,

Maidenform Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's underwear, founded in 1922 by seamstress Ida Rosenthal; Enid Bissett, who owned the shop that employed her; and Ida's husband, William Rosenthal. They rebelled against the flat-chested designs of ...

Martini & Rossi Martini & Rossi is an Italian multinational alcoholic beverage company primarily associated with the Martini brand of vermouth and also with sparkling wine (for example, Asti). It also produces the French vermouth, Noilly Prat. History The co ...

, Moet & Chandon, Nestle,

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

Ovaltine Ovaltine (also known by its original name Ovomaltine) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract (except in the blue packaging in the United States), sugar (except in Switzerland), and whey. Some flavors also have cocoa. Ovaltin ...

Pedigree Pedigree may refer to: Breeding * Pedigree chart, a document to record ancestry, used by genealogists in study of human family lines, and in selective breeding of other animals ** Pedigree, a human genealogy (ancestry chart) ** Pedigree (animal ...

Poggenpohl Poggenpohl is a German manufacturer specialized in kitchen cabinets. Its facilities are located in Herford, Germany. History In 1892, Poggenpohl was established as a furniture company founded by Freidemir Poggenpohl. Poggenpohl was successfu ...

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

Sandvik Sandvik AB is a Swedish multinational engineering company specializing in metal cutting, digital and additive manufacturing, mining and construction, stainless and special steel alloys, and industrial heating. The company was founded in Sweden ...

, Shell, Slazenger,

Smirnoff Smirnoff (; ) is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov (1831–1898). It is distributed in 130 countries. Smirnoff produ ...

Speedo Speedo International Limited is a distributor of swimwear and swim-related accessories based in Nottingham, England, known for its swim briefs. The company has roots in Australia but is no longer based there. Founded in Sydney in 1914 by Al ...

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

, Thomas Cook, Trebor and

Villeroy & Boch Villeroy & Boch (, ) is a German manufacturer of ceramics, with the company headquarters located in Mettlach, Saarland. History The company began in the tiny Lorraine village of Audun le Tiche, where the iron master François Boch set up a potte ...

War and restructuring

Due to major political changes in Malaya and Singapore, the period of 1957 to 1965 saw Boustead & Co divided into three separate companies in Singapore, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and Malaysia. Each company carried the same name and was listed on their respective stock exchanges. Boustead Singapore Limited was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange on 17 October 1975. After the split, Boustead Singapore lost control of most of the assets and properties, which by default went to Malaysia due to their geographical presence. However, Boustead Singapore's trading arm held many contracts for the marketing and distribution of consumer goods, while the engineering division sought out new markets for its design and project management services. The company was able to grow its business, under the leadership of Boustead executives who had been with the company for a long time. The nature of the company's businesses in Singapore also began to change, with activities focused mainly on manufacturing and technical services.

New leadership

In 1996, Wong Fong Fui bought over Boustead Singapore, with the company centering its core operations on infrastructure-related engineering services and geo-spatial technology.

Prominent people associated with Boustead's history

Wealthy Malacca-born merchant, Chia Ann Siang joined Boustead & Co in 1848. During his time with Boustead & Co, he became a partner of the firm Geok Teat and Company. After working for 42 years, Chia decided to retire and went into the timber business. He was a wealthy landowner and a leading merchant in Singapore's history. Chia purchased a small hill which used to be the homes of clan associations and shophouses, named after himself as

Ann Siang Hill Ann Siang Hill (Chinese: 安祥山, ms, Bukit Ann Siang) is a small hill, and the name of a one-way road located in Chinatown, Singapore. It was named after Chia Ann Siang, a wealthy businessman. The road links Club Street and Ann Siang Road ...

. Edward Boustead commissioned

George Coleman George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master. Early life Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was ...

, the Irish leading architect of Singapore at that time, to design and build the headquarters of Boustead & Co. The warehouse was known as the house of seven and twenty pillars", located around the corner from High Street. In 1834, Boustead partnered with German-born merchant,

Gustav Christian Schwabe Gustav Christian Schwabe (10 May 1813 – 10 January 1897) was a German-born merchant and financier who funded companies such as John Bibby & Sons, Harland and Wolff and the White Star Line. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Schwabe moved to Liverpool ...

in the Singapore company. Schwabe and his cousin established Sykes Schwabe & Co in Liverpool. The Liverpool partner would export products like textiles, biscuits, brandies and steel to the East, while the Singapore partner would trade with Eastern produce such as coffee and spices. Singapore merchant,

Tan Kim Seng Tan Kim Seng (18 November 1805 – 14 March 1864), was a prominent Straits-born Chinese merchant and philanthropist in Singapore in the 19th century. Biography Born in Malacca in 1806 to Tan Swee Poh (), he was the grandson of Tan Sin Liew (), ...

, was a middleman in Boustead's trading activities.Maclean Roderick. "A Pattern of Change – The Singapore International Chamber of Commerce from 1837". The Chamber and its Founding Fathers, pp. 17 – 27 Tan was also a good friend of Edward Boustead. He helped to amass small shipments of produce from local traders for Boustead, who would then ship the produce to the West. Tan was well known for his contribution towards the building of Singapore's first public waterworks in 1857. Boustead & Co had a successful investment business in commodities, ships and properties, bringing new companies to the London Stock Exchange and private investors. Edward Boustead himself was a trusted advisor to retirees who wanted to invest their retirement and pension funds. One of these retirees was Captain Thomas Douglas Scott who was master mariner of Laju, the largest and fastest sailing ship on the China Seas in the late 1800s.

Group structure

Boustead's business divisions by category: *Energy-Related Engineering **Boustead International Heaters (downstream oil & gas/petrochemicals) **Boustead Salcon Water Solutions (water & wastewater engineering in energy sector) **Boustead Controls & Electrics (upstream oil & gas) **Boustead Maxitherm Energy (

waste-to-energy Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Mo ...

) *Industrial Real Estate Solutions **Boustead Projects (industrial facilities and industrial parks) *Geo-Spatial Technology ** Esri Australia ** Esri South Asia ** Esri Singapore ** Esri Malaysia ** Esri Indonesia

Subsidiaries

Downstream oil & gas

Boustead International Heaters designs, engineers and supplies process heater systems,

waste heat recovery unit A waste heat recovery unit (WHRU) is an energy recovery heat exchanger that transfers heat from process outputs at high temperature to another part of the process for some purpose, usually increased efficiency. The WHRU is a tool involved in cogen ...

heat recovery steam generator A heat recovery steam generator (''HRSG'') is an energy recovery heat exchanger that recovers heat from a hot gas stream, such as a combustion turbine or other waste gas stream. It produces steam that can be used in a process (cogeneration) or u ...

s and once through steam generators to the downstream oil & gas industries. Process heater systems are critical to the distillation and separation of crude oil and natural gas into the many

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

products (e.g.

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

, heavy bunker oil,

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and t ...

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

, LPG,

LNG Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

GTL GTL may refer to: Organisations * GTL Ltd, an Indian network service provider * Georgia Tech Lorraine, a campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Metz, France * Glenvale Transport, an English bus company * Global Tel Link, an American telec ...

) that the world uses today. The process heaters division has participated in projects related to Shell's

Scotford Upgrader The Shell Scotford Upgrader is an oilsand upgrader, a facility which processes crude bitumen (extra-heavy crude oil) from oil sands into a wide range of synthetic crude oils. The upgrader is owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), a joint vent ...

, the

Canadian Oil Sands Canadian Oil Sands Limited was a Canadian company that generates income from its oil sands investment in the Syncrude Joint Venture. Syncrude operated an oil sands facility and produced crude oil through the mining of oil sands from ore deposits i ...

and the

Pearl GTL The Pearl GTL is a gas to liquids (GTL) plant based in Ras Laffan, Qatar. It converts natural gas into liquid petroleum products. It is the largest GTL plant in the world. The first commercial shipment from the Pearl GTL was made on 13 June ...

project in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Upstream oil & gas

Boustead Controls & Electrics designs, engineers and supplies process control systems and emergency/safety shutdown systems on oil & gas well platforms,

production platform An oil platform (or oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, and similar terms) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platfor ...

s and FPSOs.

Solid waste energy recovery

Boustead Maxitherm designs, engineers and constructs mini-power plants and solid waste energy recovery plants. The solid waste energy recovery plants are essentially mini-power plants have been developed with up to 20MW in capacity, which convert

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bi ...

, agro-industrial waste (e.g. oil palm kernels, rice husks, sugar bagasse, wood waste chips) and municipal waste into

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

Water & wastewater engineering

Boustead Salcon Water Solutions designs, engineers and constructs water and wastewater treatment plants for industrial applications. In the energy sector, the business division is an ion exchange specialist. Its industrial water and wastewater treatment plants (e.g.

desalination Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...

, demineralisation, deionisation) are used to produce pure or

ultra-pure water Ultrapure water (UPW), high-purity water or highly purified water (HPW) is water that has been purified to uncommonly stringent specifications. Ultrapure water is a term commonly used in manufacturing to emphasize the fact that the water is treated ...

for process use and treat hazardous wastewater for safe discharge at

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

, gas processing plants,

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

plants, manufacturing plants, breweries and other process plants. The division carried out the Phase II Extension for the Bedok

NEWater NEWater is the brand name given to highly treated reclaimed wastewater produced by Singapore's Public Utilities Board. NEWater is produced by further purifying conventionally treated wastewater through microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ul ...

Factory for the

Public Utilities Board The Public Utilities Board (PUB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment of the Government of Singapore responsible for ensuring a sustainable and efficient water supply in Singapore. The PUB regulates an ...

and completed the first seawater desalination plant in Singapore at

Senoko Power Station The Senoko Power Station is the largest power station in Singapore. It is located in Senoko, Sembawang and was commissioned in 1976. It is owned by Senoko Energy Pte Ltd, formerly known as Senoko Power Ltd. Description The Senoko Power Stati ...

Industrial real estate

Boustead Projects designs, builds and develops industrial facilities (e.g. logistics, manufacturing, office, R&D) and industrial parks for multinational corporations in industries ranging from

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

, biomedical, high-tech manufacturing to lifestyle and logistics, among others. Boustead Projects has played a key role in building numerous industrial facilities within

JTC Corporation JTC Corporation (JTC), formerly the Jurong Town Corporation, is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry that champions sustainable industrial development. It master-plans clean, green and smart estates to create attractive de ...

's industrial parks including the

Airport Logistics Park Airport Logistics Park Singapore (ALPS) is an industrial park created to support activities related to trade and air cargo at Singapore Changi Airport. The park is a notable example of cooperation between the government of Singapore and local bus ...

of Singapore and the knowledge-driven Paya Lebar iPark. Boustead Projects also delivered seven projects in

Seletar Aerospace Park Seletar Aerospace Park is an industrial park in Singapore catering to the aerospace industries. Located in Seletar, the plan to develop 140 hectares of land adjacent to Seletar Airport will further strengthen Singapore's position as an aviatio ...

, a rapidly developing integrated aerospace hub in Singapore catering to global aerospace corporations which host and support aviation activities. The industrial real estate division holds a portfolio of properties leased out to MNCs in the aviation, high-tech manufacturing and logistics industries.

Geo-spatial technology

Boustead is a major shareholder of subsidiaries Esri Australia and Esri South Asia. Esri Inc has a global market share of 40%, with over 350,000 organisations using Esri GIS solutions in more than 200 countries worldwide. Geo-spatial technology applications include the management of homeland defence (e.g. anti-terrorism, police), natural resources (e.g. mining, oil & gas, timber), transportation networks (e.g. airports, ports, roads) and utility networks (e.g. power grids, water and sewage systems), among others.

References

{{Reflist Companies listed on the Singapore Exchange Engineering companies of Singapore Companies established in 1828 Singaporean brands