SINGAPORE—Singapore-listed real estate group Aspen Holdings Ltd. is venturing into the rubber gloves business as part of a strategy to diversify its existing businesses.
The group's wholly owned subsidiary Aspen Vision All Sdn. Bhd. and investment holding firm CMY Capital have agreed to manufacture and distribute rubber gloves, Aspen said in an SGX filing Aug. 12.
In connection with the proposed diversification, AVA has acquired a dormant company, known as Aspen Glove, from the group's president and CEO Dato' Murly Manokharan.
The Malaysian group said it had made an initial investment of $25 million for the first phase of the project, which is expected to produce 1.1 billion gloves per year from the third quarter of 2021.
The rationale behind the move, the group said, is the growing demand on the back of COVID-19 pandemic.
"Despite most existing glove makers in Malaysia running at full capacity, there are still production backlogs of 4–6 months in fulfilling orders," it said in its announcement.
The group believes demand for gloves is likely to remain firm until the end of 2021, especially from the health care and food and beverage industries, as well as the hospitality and travel sectors.