KUALA LUMPUR (April 17): OSK Ventures International Bhd's founder and largest shareholder Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat @ Wong Joo Hwa will assume the position of non-executive chairman in the group from Tuesday (April 18).

Tan Sri Ong Leong Huat @ Wong Joo Hwa (The Edge filepix)

Ong established OSK Ventures — which supported and incubated a number of successful technology companies in Malaysia — in 2003, according to the group's bourse filing.

He was appointed as a non-independent non-executive director of the group from December 2003 to April 2010 and re-appointed with the same designation from February 2013 to April 2017.
 
Ong is the largest shareholder of OSK Ventures, with a 65.84% stake held via OSK Equity Holdings Sdn Bhd and OSK Holdings Bhd.

Ong, 79, became the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of OSK Securities Bhd (which was later known as OSK Investment Bank Bhd) from July 1985 to January 2007, and was thereafter appointed as the group managing director and CEO of OSK Investment Bank.

Ong was then re-designated as a non-independent non-executive director of OSK Investment Bank, a position he held until April 2013.

Ong is also the executive chairman of OSK Holdings Bhd, OSK Property Holdings Bhd and PJ Development Holdings Bhd. He is also a non-independent non-executive director of RHB Bank Bhd, and the non-independent non-executive chairman of RHB Investment Bank Bhd.

He had previously served as a director of Malaysian Exchange of Securities Dealing and Automated Quotation (Mesdaq) from July 1999 to March 2002, and is a member of the Capital Market Advisory Council appointed by the Securities Commission Malaysia in 2004 to advise on issues relating to the implementation of the Capital Market Master Plan.

OSK Ventures has also appointed Pankajkumar Bipinchandra as an independent director with effect from Tuesday.

Pankajkumar, 56, was the former head of research at OSK Research Sdn Bhd, prior to joining Kurnia Insurans (Malaysia) Bhd in 2005 as chief investment officer.

He is the managing director of Datametrics Research and Information Centre Sdn Bhd, a think tank that undertakes research and advocacy on a diverse range of policy issues.

He also currently sits on the corporate board of MN Holdings Bhd as an independent non-executive director.

Pankajkumar has contributed new articles on the economy, market and sectorial topics, as well as on issues related to governance and ethics.

Meanwhile, OSK Ventures has redesigned Mazidah Abdul Malik from independent non-executive director to senior independent non-executive director of the group. She was appointed to the group's board in December 2022.

Mazidah, 64, has served Bank Negara Malaysia for more than 30 years. She has extensive experience in trading and portfolio investments in global fixed income markets, having spent 16 years at the Investment and Treasury Department of the central bank.

Mazidah was BNM's representative in New York from October 1994 to January 1998, and her stint trading for the central bank's office in London in 1992 provided her with the experience in managing market, liquidity and credit risks in the US and European financial centres, said OSK Ventures.

The group also announced independent director Dr Ngo Get Ping's cessation of office, as his tenure has exceeded the nine-year term limit, to be in line with Practice 5.3 of the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance.

OSK Ventures shares gained 0.95% or half sen to 53 sen on Monday (April 17), valuing the group at RM103.74 million.