Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Liew Hoi Foo, the son-in-law of the late founder of Lysaght Galvanized Steel Bhd, has quit from his post as managing director, following a disagreement with the board of directors on the identity of the ultimate holding company of Lysaght.

However, he will remain with the company until May 31, as he has consented to be appointed as the chief executive officer with effect from today, in order to facilitate a smooth handover of duties.

"The board of Lysaght was not able to agree for the purposes of inclusion in the Directors Report, the identity of the ultimate holding company," noted Lysaght in its bourse filing on Liew's resignation.

"The former MD, claiming personal knowledge, insists that the immediate holding is no longer the ultimate holding company, while all the independent directors not being privy to the affairs of the immediate holding company, nor having received any notification to the contrary and based on publicly-available records and legal advice, still regard the immediate holding company as the ultimate holding company," it added.

Liew's resignation today came after Lysaght announced on April 21 that Chew Meu Jong, the eldest daughter of the late founder Chew Kar Heing and sister-in-law to Liew, does not actually have a substantial stake in the group, despite her position as MD of Chew Bros (M) Sdn Bhd — a private vehicle that owns a 40% stake in Lysaght (M) Sdn Bhd (Lysaght Malaysia), which in turn holds a 55.14% stake in Lysaght.

The announcement meant Meu Jong, who has long been rumoured to be wrestling for control of the Lysaght Group from Liew since Kar Heing's demise in 2014, has ceased to be a substantial shareholder of the group since March 30 this year, and is left with only a 0.076% stake, held under her husband, Ho Lam Fook.

The tension between Meu Jong and Liew became apparent when Meu Jong objected to Lysaght's proposal in May 2014 for a share split, bonus issue and free warrants, which resulted in the plan being scrapped in March 2015.

Liew has 27 years of working experience with three different organisations as accountants, executive director and dealers representative, prior to joining Lysaght’s board in 2003. He also sits on the board of the subsidiary of the company, Lysaght Marketing (S) Pte Ltd.

As at market close today, Lysaght's shares slid 0.56% to RM3.58, after 8,000 were traded. The company had a market capitalisation of RM148.86 million.

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