Update S P Setia announces key senior officers after Liew resigns

by **Cals** Mon 20 Jan 2014, 18:47

Update S P Setia announces key senior officers after Liew resigns

Business & Markets 2014

Written by Ahmad Naqib Idris Adzman Shah of theedgemalaysia.com

Monday, 20 January 2014 13:48

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 20): S P Setia Bhd announced that its chief executive officer, Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, chief financial officer, Datuk Teow Leong Seng and director Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye had given notice of their resignation.

The top property developer will see Liew to resign from his position on 30 April, while Datuk Teow to leave on 31 July 2014.

Lee’s resignation is effective immediately, but will be staying on as chairman of the S P Setia Foundation as long as his services are required.

Datuk Voon Tin Yow, who currently is chief operating officer, will assume the role of acting president and chief executive officer of the group for one year, starting 1 May 2014, supported by Datuk Khow Chap Jen, presently executive vice president, as acting deputy president for the period.

S P Setia chairman Tun Zaki Tun Azmi said while the company's board was saddened by the departure of Liew, Teow and Lee, it was confident that the group would continue to be in steady hands under Voon and Khor.

“The appointments of Dato’ Voon and Dato’ Khor as acting president & CEO and acting deputy president are consistent with the Management Succession Plan approved by the board of directors of S P Setia Bhd in March 2013.

“Both of them have been with the group since 1996 and have contributed greatly to the tremendous growth achieved by S P Setia over the last 18 years,” said Tun Zaki.

He added that the group would seek the views of its major shareholder, Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), before the finalisation of the terms and conditions of the successors.

Liew said S P Setia was currently at its strongest position in business and financial terms.

“We also have an outstanding reputation as an exemplary corporate citizen through the good work done by the S P Setia Foundation. Given the solid footing which the Company is on, I believe the time has arrived for me to step down after 18 years as CEO,” he said.

Under Liew’s leadership, S P Setia achieved RM8.24 billion in sales in FY2013 which is almost double what it recorded in the previous financial year.

As at Oct 31, 2013, it had RM9.6 billion in unbilled sales to be realised over the next few years.

S P Setia was named Malaysia’s No. 1 developer for the 8th time last year by The Edge Malaysia in its Top Property Developers Awards and holds the distinction of being the only Malaysian developer to have received five FIABCI Prix d’Excellence Awards conferred by the International Real Estate Federation.

S P Setia also has 4,782 acres of undeveloped land bank worth RM102 billion in remaining Gross Development Value of which S P Setia’s effective stake is RM71 billion.

Before joining S P Setia, Tan Sri Liew was a banker for a local merchant bank in 1981, and had been in the banking industry for 5 years before venturing into property development.

He was appointed as executive director of S P Setia on 15 January 1996, and was later appointed as the group managing director on 3 May 1996.

He was named “Corporate Executive of the Year” in 2005 for mid-cap companies by AsiaMoney Magazine, and also as “Property Man of the Year” in 2007 by FIABCI Malaysia Property Awards 2007.