By CHEN HUIFEN

JUST three years after itopened, a mid-size medicalgroup practice here hasfolded.

Excellence Healthcare,which ran a 22,000 squarefoot facility on two floors ofCamden Medical Centre,closed for good last Satur-day after the partnersfound it increasingly toughto sustain the loss-makingbusiness.

Sources told BT that theclosure was not a result ofweak economic conditionsbut a loss of direction.

G r o u p C E O C h e n

Jau-Fei and medical direc-tor Albert Chan had theirhands full with projects inChina. Dr Chen, who spe-cialises in nutritional immu-nology, was busy with ahealth products business.And Dr Chan has now ta-ken up a position as a con-sultant cardiologist withGlobal Healthcare in Shang-hai.

Things started to gowrong at Excellence whenThe West Clinic pulled outin March, after US share-holders of The West Clinic’sSingapore unit withdrew.The renowned Americanoncology practice had setup shop at Excellence’spremises in 2006 to treatcancer patients in the re-gion.

After The West Clinic

left, the practice was una-ble to find another anchortenant to replace it. Thehead of The West Clinic inSingapore, oncologist Ste-ven Tucker, joined PacificHealthcare Holdings in Au-gust this year.

About eight doctors prac-tised at Excellence Health-care, according to the com-pany’s website. BT under-stands that senior consul-tant ophthalmologist SteveSeah and general practitio-ner Komathy Rajaratnam,who focuses on aestheticprocedures and dermatolo-gy, will set up their own se-parate practices at thesame premises.

Prosthodontist WillyChang will join TP DentalSurgeons at Ngee Ann City,while orthodontist JaneeLim will join The Implantand Oral Surgery Centre atCamden Medical Centre. Itis not clear where generalpractitioner John Lim willmove to.

Three other doctors –cardiologists Jimmy Lim,Kenneth Ng and RaymondLee – have set up a grouppractice at Novena HeartCentre, opposite the TanTock Seng Hospital.

About 15 of the nursesand support staff have ei-ther found new jobs or willjoin the doctors forming in-dependent practices.

Excellence’s closure an-nouncement came sudden-ly, with some doctors toldabout the decision onlyabout two weeks ago.

Set up in early 2005, themulti-disciplinary centrewas started by a group ofprivate investors that in-cluded doctors and busi-nessmen.

It showed plenty ofpromise then, offeringsome of the latest medical

equipment and technolo-gies, including telemedi-cine facilities and a PET/CTscanner costing more than$5 million.

According to a previousnews report, the centre costmore than $10 million tobuild.

By NISHA RAMCHANDANI

THE annual children’s char-ity concert ChildAid hasraised a record $506,000this year, easily toppinglast year’s $450,000.

All proceeds will go toThe Business Times Bud-ding Artists Fund and TheStraits Times School PocketMoney Fund.

This year, tickets forboth shows – last night andtonight – sold out complete-ly. Companies have also giv-en generously. Four goldsponsors – Cerebos Pacific,Citibank, New CreationChurch and Overseas Un-ion Enterprise – each donat-ed $50,000 or more thisyear.

Two silver sponsors –Cartier and CapitaLandHope Foundation – each do-nated $30,000. And 10bronze sponsors – includ-ing Seagate Technology,Stuttgart Auto and HSBC –each donated between$10,000 and $29,999.

“This shows that despitethe challenging economicclimate, the Singapore pub-lic and corporate sectorhave big hearts,” said Child-Aid’s organising chairmanPeter Khoo. “It showsneedy children that our so-ciety cares for them. We

are grateful to everyone forthe tremendous support.”

ChildAid, which openedlast night at the NationalUniversity of Singapore Uni-versity Cultural Centre,showcases the nation’s bestyoung musical talent. It in-volves 80 performers, agedsix to 19. Education Minis-ter Ng Eng Hen and Singa-pore Press Holdings chair-man Tony Tan will be at-tending the concert’s GalaNight tonight.

Acts to keep an eye outfor include 12-year-old Ju-lia Abueva, who was fea-tured on The Oprah Win-frey Show as one of theworld’s most talented kids,and 10-year-old Tiger Onit-suka from Japan, who isthe world’s youngest profes-sional drummer.

Social workers from allfamily service centres inSingapore have been invit-ed as special guests for to-night’s concert.

“This is a ChildAid tradi-tion,” Mr Khoo said. “It isour way of recognisingthese social workers fortheir outstanding service tothe School Pocket MoneyFund and the Budding Art-ists Fund.”

Since the inaugural con-cert in 2005, more than$1.5 million has beenraised.

By NISHA RAMCHANDANIPUMA Singapore expectsdouble-digit growth nextyear despite the weak retailsector and aims to boost itspresence here throughmore stores and tie-ups.

“So far, we are confidentthat we will grow nextyear,” said Sheryl Wong,general manager of PumaSports Singapore. “We arestill building the brand andexpecting double-digitgrowth.”

There is no indicationfrom wholesale customersthat orders will be scaledback, she said. “We are ontarget for this year. Ourshops are still doing wellyear-on-year in terms ofsales.”

Puma has boosted localdistribution by selling prod-ucts through more mul-ti-brand and specialitys h o p s . I t h a s f o u r

stand-alone stores, andsells its merchandise in 105multi-brand and specialityshops.

The company is alsolooking to open more retailstores in “suitable loca-tions” that meet its custom-er profile, such as OrchardRoad.

Puma celebrated its60th anniversary yesterdaywith a party that featuredthe Puma Iconic Gallery - ashowcase of historic prod-ucts such as football bootssigned by Diego Maradonaand trainers worn by sprint-er Usain Bolt at the BeijingOlympics.

It has also created a spe-cial anniversary collectionthat includes iconic prod-ucts from its earliest days.

Today, Puma’s productsare distributed in morethan 80 countries, with theAsia-Pacific contributingabout 20 per cent of its over-all revenue.

By TEH SHI NING

TWO of the four top awardsat last night’s SingaporePrestige Brand Award (SP-BA) 2008 went to home-grown food brands.

Food Republic, the foodcourt chain run by theBreadTalk Group, and soyabean drinks and snackschain Mr Bean emergedoverall winners in the Pro-mising Brands and Estab-lished Brands categories re-spectively.

Clinching top honours inthe Heritage Brands catego-ry was Pet Lovers Centre,the pet-product retailchain, while luxury watchretailer The Hour Glasswas the overall winner ofthe five CitiBusiness Regio-nal Brands winners thisyear.

In all, 44 made-in-Singa-

pore brands were recog-nised for their brandingstrategies at this year’s SP-BA award presentation cer-emony, jointly organised bythe Association of Small &Medium Enterprises (As-me) and Chinese languagedaily Lianhe Zaobao, andsponsored by CitiBusiness,Citibank’s unit servingSMEs.

Lianhe Zaobao editorLim Jim Koon said that thenumber of entries for theSPBA has grown over theyears, proving that the im-pression that local SMEspay little attention to bran-ding can no longer be true.“In fact, SMEs here do in-vest considerable time andeffort in branding,” he said.

As the winners celebra-ted their branding successlast night, the guest-of-hon-

our, Minister of State forTrade and Industry Lee YiShyan, shared a few compli-ments that “the Singaporebrand” recently receivedfrom foreign officials, say-ing that lessons from suc-cessful brand building atthe national level can alsobe applied to the firm level.

“A strong brand is mostinvaluable, especially in try-ing times,” Mr Lee said.

Asme president Law-rence Leow also expressedconf idence that the“strength of their businessmodels and brands” wouldenable the winners toweather storms ahead.

By TEH SHI NING

SINGAPOREANS are risk-averse and most of them donot feel sufficiently in-formed to make financialdecisions, according to asurvey by insurance and fi-nancial services group Avi-va on attitudes to saving.

Singapore findings fromthe global survey, releasedyesterday, show 42 percent of local respondents cit-

ed a guaranteed rate of re-turn as the most importantfactor when consideringsavings and investments.

And 19 per cent citedthe risk of losing savings orinvestments as the primereason not to save or in-vest.

This figure is almost dou-ble the 10 per cent record-ed in an Aviva survey lastyear.

This general cautious-ness was underscored byuncertainty and anxiety re-vealed by other findings inthe latest survey.

More than half of the1,000 Singaporean re-spondents said they lacksufficient information tomake decisions on personalfinance; 43 per cent saidthey find financial planningfor retirement “too compli-

cated”; 14 per cent said alack of advice stops themsaving or investing moremoney for retirement.

Also, 68 per cent saidthey have taken steps to en-sure adequate post-retire-ment income, but 61 percent said they are worriedtheir savings will be insuffi-cient.

The survey also foundthat 62 per cent of Singa-

pore respondents intend towork past the retirementage, up from 52 per cent ayear back. More than two-thirds of Singaporeanspolled also have a short-term financial planning out-look of less than five years.

Shaun Meadows, CEO ofAviva Singapore, HongKong and the Middle East,said: “These findings high-light the need for financialservice providers and firms

in our industry to addressconsumers’ lack of finan-cial information and designproducts to meet specificneeds.”

The global report foundan increase in risk aversionand cautiousness world-wide that pre-dates the cur-rent financial crisis.

A re-survey done afterthe crisis broke reinforcedand did not change the re-port’s findings, Aviva said.

ChildAid concertraises record $506,000

Partners finding itincreasingly toughto sustainloss-making business

Puma S’porebullish on retailsales in 2009

KWONGKC/LIANHE ZAOBAO

Winning smile: Mr Bean co-founder Kang Puay Seng(left) and Mr Lee, who was the guest-of-honour

FILE PHOTO

Casualty of business: Excellence Healthcare ran a 22,000 square foot facilityon two floors of Camden Medical Centre

Local namesbag 2 of 4 topbrand awards

Financial risk aversion widespread among Singaporeans

Excellence Healthcare folds

8 SINGAPORE NEWS The Business Times, Thursday, December 4, 2008