SINGAPORE - Former SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Huat will be
appointed to the CEO position at Auric Pacific Group Limited on May 1.
This was announced yesterday morning by the company, during an
hour-long trading halt on the Singapore Exchange.
Ms Saw, 57, will take over the reins from Mr Yao Che Wan, 65, who will
retire from his current role as group managing director and executive director.
Auric, a diversified unit of Indonesian conglomerate Lippo Group, has a
varied portfolio in food manufacturing, distribution and retail. It produces
Sunshine bread and also owns the Delifrance Asia café chain.
According to a report in The Straits Times, Auric's share prices saw a
dip following the announcement of Ms Saw's appointment.
The company's stock opened at 75 cents in the morning, but dropped to
72 cents after the trading halt. It finally finished at 73 cents, despite an
early afternoon rally to 75.5 cents.
Trading volume was also up in the past two days - 273,000 shares were
moved yesterday, and 233,000 on Wednesday, the daily said. This is up from the
average trading volume of 14,500.
Ms Saw's helming of Auric is a return to the retail industry. Before
joining SMRT, she was the chief executive of duty-free retail chain DFS Venture
Singapore, where she worked for 19 years.
She was named SMRT CEO in Dec 2002 - a move that raised eyebrows as
unlike previous appointment holders, Ms Saw was not from the armed forces or
civil service.
Ms Saw managed to prove her sceptics wrong and grew a lucrative
business for SMRT by renting out retail space within stations.
That business expanded and became SMRT's biggest profit generator,
after train operations, The Straits Times said
However, this rental business has been criticised following the two
massive rail breakdowns along the North-South line last December. Critics said
SMRT's success was at the expense of its core competency to run a rail network.
AsiaOne
Business & Investment Opportunities
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