Ho Ching to step down as chairman of Temasek’s subsidiary

SINGAPORE — Ms Ho Ching will step down as chairman of Temasek International, the wholly owned management and investment arm of parent company Temasek Holdings.

Ms Ho — who remains as chief executive officer of state investment firm Temasek Holdings — said that the move is to ensure that Temasek International is “ready for disruptive challenges and opportunities in the decade ahead”.

Current deputy chairman and CEO Lee Theng Kiat will take over as chairman of Temasek International.

In a statement on Tuesday (March 19), Temasek also announced that Mr Lee will relinquish his CEO post and will be succeeded by current deputy CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara.

The leadership changes will take effect from April.

Commenting on the moves, Ms Ho said that apart from bracing for “disruptive challenges” ahead, the demands on Temasek’s “three roles as investor, institution and steward have also increased in tandem with (its) portfolio growth, breadth and coverage”.

“The Temasek Board, together with Theng Kiat and I, are pleased that the future leadership team of Temasek is well in place,” she added.

“I’m also very glad that Theng Kiat has agreed to take over as chairman of Temasek International, to support and guide Dilhan and his team. This will provide steady continuity amid active change to fulfil Temasek International’s key roles as an active investor and a forward-looking institution.”

Aside from being CEO of Temasek Holdings, Ms Ho, 65, who joined the organisation in 2002, also holds the title of executive director on Temasek’s board. The board’s chairman is former Cabinet Minister Lim Boon Heng.

As the new CEO of Temasek International, Mr Pillay, 55, will oversee the operations of the firm as well as the organisation of its talent and resources “to deliver sustainable long-term returns” for Temasek, the statement said.

Mr Pillay joined the firm in September 2010.

Mr Lee, 65, who joined Temasek in 2012, will be “overseeing the development” of the firm and will work closely with Mr Pillay on “commercial strategies and portfolio matters”.

The portfolio of Temasek more than doubled from S$103 billion in 2005 to S$266 billion in 2015. By March 2018, it has risen to S$308 billion.

As at end-March last year, two-thirds of Temasek’s assets remain in Asia, including Singapore (27 per cent) and China (26 per cent).

Outside Asia, the United States and Europe make up 22 per cent of the portfolio — up from 17 per cent in 2015.

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Ms Ho has been CEO of Temasek Holdings since 2004 and leadership succession at Singapore’s investment company has been discussed widely.

Almost a decade ago, Ms Ho planned to step down in October 2009 and Temasek appointed Mr Charles Goodyear, the former head of natural resources company BHP Billiton, to replace her.

The American would have been the first foreigner to run Temasek Holdings but in July 2009, the plan was aborted when both Temasek’s board and Mr Goodyear said that there were differences regarding certain strategic issues that could not be resolved.

In 2011, London’s Financial Times reported that Ms Ho was likely to step down in August that year, but she later refuted the report.

The issue of Temasek’s leadership was raised again in recent years.

In 2017, Ms Indranee Rajah, then Senior Minister of State for Finance and Law, told Parliament that the Government would not interfere in Temasek’s selection of its next CEO.

This came after Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leon Perera of the Workers’ Party questioned why there had not been any progress since Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in 2009 that Temasek was looking at suitable candidates.

In response, Ms Indranee said that the investment firm was constantly on the lookout for a potential successor. The Temasek board reviewed and tracked a list of candidates yearly, and these candidates came from within the company as well as those from other companies in Singapore and overseas, she added.

Mr Song Seng Wun, an economist with CIMB Private Banking, said that to ensure a smooth transition for Temasek International, Ms Ho will still provide a “guiding hand” for the new leadership given her wealth of experience and knowledge.

“It is a typical Singapore leadership succession, similar to political succession. When you have someone who is so seasoned, the new leadership will still tap them for their views and advice,” Mr Song said.

Technologies used by companies in various sectors are rapidly changing, Mr Song noted, and this will have an impact on Temasek’s investment plans.

For instance, in the area of agriculture, Temasek might be looking at companies that use the latest technologies to reap harvests quickly, but at the same time, such technologies have to be environment-friendly as well.