Newsbreak: Sime Darby Plantation chairman Abdul Ghani said to be on the way out

TheEdge Mon, Jun 01, 2020 05:00pm - 3 years View Original


SIME Darby Plantation Bhd chairman Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Othman is said to be the latest head of a government-linked corporation told to vacate his position to make way for a political appointee of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.

A source close to the matter tells The Edge that Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s disciplinary board chief Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas, said to be a close associate of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, is the PN government’s candidate to replace Ghani.

The source adds, however, that board members of Sime Darby Plantation as well as the group’s largest shareholder Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) are not in favour of Ghani’s termination, which was apparently done in an abrupt manner.

At press time, there was no announcement by Sime Darby Plantation on a change in the post of chairman.

This level of shareholder activism seen from PNB does not exactly come as a surprise.

In a recent interview with The Edge, PNB president and group CEO Jalil Rasheed spoke about the organisation’s stewardship framework, which is to ensure that companies within its strategic network are aligned in terms of thinking and the way they are governed at board level, and with key performance indicators.

Sime Darby Plantation and its sister companies, Sime Darby Bhd and Sime Darby Property Bhd, are part of PNB’s strategic investments, alongside Malayan Banking Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, UMW Holdings Bhd, Velesto Energy Bhd and Chemical Co of Malaysia Bhd, to name but a few.

The stewardship framework has four key principles that focus on capital discipline, governance, organisational health and value-adding partnership. As part of organisational health, there will be greater emphasis placed on talent and succession planning, whereby PNB strongly advocates robust succession planning in regard to board members and key executives in investee companies, and it will assess the performance of CEOs and highlight key issues and concerns to the board, if any.

Jalil also told The Edge then that PNB wanted to be a shareholder that was more “engaged and present”, and would not take a back seat. Rather, it would like to see improvement at the board level in terms of governance of its portfolio companies.

Meanwhile, a closer look at the careers of both Ghani, 73, and Megat Najmuddin, 76, shows that both had chalked up illustrious achievements in the Malaysian political scene.

Ghani was appointed to the board of Sime Darby Plantation on July 1, 2013. An economics graduate from La Trobe University in Melbourne and a Master’s degree holder in political economy from the University of Queensland, Australia, Ghani has held several positions in the government, including deputy minister of energy, telecommunications and post in 1987, deputy minister of finance in 1990 and minister of youth and sports from 1993 to 1995.

Like Prime Minister Muhyiddin, Ghani is also a former chief minister of Johor and was Muhyiddin’s successor to the post. While Muhyiddin served as chief minister from 1986 to 1995, Ghani took over the post from 1995 to 2013. It is unclear whether the two crossed paths then.

Ghani is a former chairman of Sime Darby Bhd and Sime Darby Property Bhd. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) Foundation and the Board of Trustees of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research.

Meanwhile, the connection between Megat Najmuddin and Muhyiddin is clearer. He is adviser to the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Charity Golf Foundation, a registered charity founded by the prime minister that aims to alleviate suffering and improve living conditions for those most at risk because of socioeconomic circumstances beyond their control. The organisation also has a secondary objective of providing scholarships for students to further their education overseas and nurturing young amateur golfers.

A lawyer by profession with a degree in law from Singapore University, Megat Najmuddin was the state assemblyman for Kelana Jaya for two terms, from 1986 to 1995, and a municipal councillor for two decades.

He has held the post of president of the Federation of Public Listed Companies since 1997. He was also appointed president of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance from 1998 to 2015, and is currently its honorary patron. He was also a member of the advisory board of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

In addition, Megat Najmuddin is chairman of education group SEG International Bhd and property developer Asian Pac Holdings Bhd. He also served as a non-executive independent director of Petronas from April 2010 to April 2017 and was a long-time chairman of Maju Perak Holdings Bhd, Omesti Bhd and Tradewinds Corp Bhd.

 

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