Why EXSIM is expanding beyond the Klang Valley in 2026

Joey currently advises on 16 live EXSIM developments — the full list is here — which makes it the largest single-developer portfolio on this site by a wide margin. What's more interesting than the count, though, is the shape of it: EXSIM has gone from a Klang Valley-only developer to a six-state operation in the space of a few years, and the way it's done it follows a pattern worth understanding if you're comparing one of its launches against a project from a developer building in just one city.

Where it started: Kota Damansara and Bukit Jalil

EXSIM was founded in 2008 by Lim Aik Hoe together with his brothers Aik Kiat, Aik Fu and Aik Keong, and formally incorporated the following year as EXSIM Development Sdn Bhd. It began with commercial and industrial projects — the Nouvelle Industrial Park series in Kota Damansara — before moving into residential. Its maiden residential project, The Treez @ Bukit Jalil, was recognised as Southern Kuala Lumpur's first Green Residential Building, and that green-certification habit has stuck: every completed and ongoing EXSIM high-rise carries green certification, across roughly 20 certified launches to date. Bukit Jalil in particular became something of a stronghold — Queenswoodz and The Vividz are both currently live there.

Phase two: Penang and Johor Bahru

The next stage of expansion took EXSIM out of the Klang Valley entirely, into Penang's Gelugor waterfront — Keeperz Suites and The Lighthauz, the latter a collaboration with Majestic Gen — and into Johor Bahru City Centre with Causewayz Square and The Celestz. This was a lower-risk way to test expansion: both cities already had established, liquid new-launch markets that EXSIM's Klang Valley playbook — green-certified high-rises, amenity-dense design — could transplant fairly directly.

The joint-venture pattern

What's more distinctive is how EXSIM has handled entry into markets where it doesn't already have land or a track record — it doesn't buy in cold. MABA Suitez, directly opposite Merdeka 118, is a joint venture with the Malaysian Basketball Association, which owned the site and is relocating its headquarters into the finished development. The Bedrock in Kota Kinabalu is a joint venture with Suria Capital Holdings Bhd, the port operator that owns the surrounding Jesselton Waterfront City land. The Lighthauz in Penang was built in collaboration with Majestic Gen. In each case, EXSIM partnered with the party that already controlled the land and had a long-term stake in the precinct, rather than land-banking and building alone.

That pattern matters for how you read a new EXSIM launch in an unfamiliar city: it usually signals that a landowner with local standing chose EXSIM as its execution partner, which is a different (and generally lower-risk) setup than a developer buying speculative land on its own in a market it doesn't know.

The newest phase: Sabah and the East Coast

The most recent expansion is also the fastest — EXSIM's first two Sabah projects, The Bedrock in Kota Kinabalu and Sejati Sentral in Sandakan, both broke ground in October 2025, essentially back to back. Alongside them came three East Coast launches: Sea Crestz in Kuantan, Qubaz Suites in Kuala Terengganu, and Erinaz Suites in Kubang Kerian, Kota Bharu. This is the first time EXSIM has moved into Sabah and the East Coast simultaneously, rather than testing one new market before the next — a sign of how much scale the company has built up in its established markets.

What this means if you're comparing an EXSIM launch

A developer with 16 concurrent projects across six states has more pricing and launch-pacing data to compare against itself than almost any other developer on this site — which cuts both ways. It means there's a large body of comparable EXSIM product to benchmark a specific unit against (design language, unit efficiency, amenity provision are all fairly consistent developer to developer). It also means EXSIM's total exposure is spread thin geographically, so a newer market like Sabah genuinely is a different risk profile from an established one like Bukit Jalil, even under the same corporate name and green-certification standard.

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