PropertyGuru Announces New Country Manager

KUALA LUMPUR, 6th February 2013 – PropertyGuru Group, Asia's leading
property media, announces the appointment of Gerard Kho as its new
Malaysia Country Manager, effective February 1st 2013.

Kho will oversee all aspects of PropertyGuru’s Malaysian-based operations, inclusive of day-to-day operations in KL, Penang and the Iskandar region in Johor, as well as to promote the Company’s rapid expansion within the online portal market amongst consumers and advertiser clients.

Kho brings a wealth of experience and vast industry knowledge to his new position, having a decade of expertise in fast developing real estate markets such as Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.

Formerly Chief Executive Officer at Reapfield, Malaysia’s largest real estate agency, he was responsible for successfully growing its revenue base within 4 years by 90% and garnered a slew of property-related awards such as the MIEA Real Estate Agency of the Year for 4 consecutive years (2009-2012) and in the Specialised Category for Education in 2012.

Prior to that, Kho has served in various capacities including Senior Vice President of Reapfield, Managing Director at Elders Singapore & Malaysia and Partner at Elders Real Estate Pyrmont, Sydney. He has also co-authored the Thrust in 2012, a leading publication on the Malaysian real estate industry and is a notable industry speaker.

“I’m excited about my new position and the growth potential for PropertyGuru.com.my. As the fastest growing online property portal in Malaysia, there’s great opportunity for us to further establish ourselves as the preferred choice for consumers when it comes to buying or renting property or looking for market intelligence,” said Kho.  

According to Group CEO, Steve Melhuish, Kho’s appointment to helm PropertyGuru Malaysia comes at a pivotal time with the explosive growth of its business within Malaysia and regionally.

“We’re delighted to welcome a high-calibre individual of Gerard’s standing to lead our Malaysia business. He is a well-known and well respected leader with a wealth of real estate industry experience and outstanding leadership skills that will further accelerate our growth in Malaysia” stated Melhuish.
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About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Asia’s leading online property portal group used by almost 11 million property buyers, viewing over 86 million property pages and generating over 300,000 enquiries for real estate developer and agent advertisers – every month.

Headquartered in Singapore, PropertyGuru was founded in 2006 by 2 entrepreneurs with a vision to simplify the property search process and help buyers, sellers and investors make better property decisions faster. Taking advantage of Asia’s growing affluence, property demand and online explosion, it received its first VC investment funding in 2008 and most recently secured approximately $60m investment in 2012 from Deutsche Telekom, South East Asia’s largest digital investment to date. Since its launch, PropertyGuru has reported rapid growth and most recently announced a record 96% increase in revenue, 60% increase in internet users and 50% increase in paying agent advertisers to 24,000 – in 2012.   

The award winning company focuses heavily on innovation. Over the last 18 months, the Company has developed and launched 12 mobile applications in 4 countries and 3 languages which have received over half a million downloads – almost 50 per cent of its users in Singapore now originate from a mobile device. PropertyGuru was also the first to integrate website with social media, first to launch Singapore’s only dedicated property newspaper with over 100,000 copies circulated island-wide every month and developing a property events platform with approximately 30 shows held annually across 4 countries addressing 30,000 potential property buyers on the ground.

PropertyGuru has won multiple awards:

OPP Awards For Excellence 2012 (Gold) “Best Innovation”   
OPP Awards For Excellence 2012 (Silver) “Best Media”
OPP Awards For Excellence 2012 (Bronze) “Best Online Service”   
OPP Awards For Excellence 2011 (Gold) “Best Media Brand”
OPP Awards For Excellence 2011 (Silver) “Best Online Service”   
Singapore IT Federation (SITF) Merit Award for “Mobile Application” 2011
Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award 2011   
Hitwise “No.1 Website in the Property Industry” award 2011”
Marketing Magazine Digital Media of the Year 2011, Singapore Property Category   
South East Asian SME Tiger Awards 2011 Gold Award – Online Business
Singapore IT Federation (SITF) award for “Best E-Enterprise Company 2010”   
Marketing Magazine’s “Top Digital Media of the Year 2010” Award
Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA) award for
“Best Performing VC Backed Company 2010”    
CNBC World's “Best Property Portal Award 2009" Award
Google Zeitgeist Singapore 9th Fastest Rising Search Term 2009 Award   

About PropertyGuru Malaysia
Propertyguru.com.my is the fastest growing property portal in the country with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor. The Malaysian portal currently has over 1.5 million visitors viewing almost 12 million property pages monthly.

PropertyGuru Malaysia reported a 2.5 times growth in revenue in 2012, attributed to a large growth in agent members, real estate developers and bank clients as well as a rise of 132% in website visitors to reach more than 11 million in comparison to the same period at the end of the previous year.

2012 also saw PropertyGuru taking the lead in the mobile space in Malaysia with the triple launches of PropertyGuru Malaysia’s consumer mobile app on Android and iPhone platforms as well as the Agent app on Android. The mobile apps have proved to be highly popular since launching in Q3 2012, with both consumers app receiving more than 77,700 downloads within three short months alone, with over 20% of all PropertyGuru users are now using mobile phone or tablet to visit the website in Malaysia.

For more queries or to arrange for an interview, contact:

Jade Wong
Mobile (+60) 122195289
Email jade@mustardtree.com.my