KUALA LUMPUR (April 5): Berjaya Corp Bhd (BCorp) executive chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun announced today that he will be resigning from his position effective immediately, confirming a report by The Edge this morning.
In a statement to the local bourse, BCorp said Tan will remain on the board of directors as the non-executive chairman.
“This is in line with his vision to transform the BCorp group into an institutionalised corporation, managed by professionals,” it said.
Meanwhile, BCorp group chief executive officer (CEO) Abdul Jalil Abdul Rasheed, who was appointed to the board on March 16, has been mandated to transform the group into a high-performing organisation through streamlining the various group businesses to create and enhance shareholder value, optimising financial and human resources, improving synergies and efficiency as well as enhancing corporate governance and transparency, according to the statement.
Tan said with Jalil Rasheed on board as the group CEO, handling the strategic and operational decision-making and planning the future business direction of the group, together with executive deputy chairman Datuk Seri Robin Tan Yeong Ching, he is confident that BCorp is in capable hands and will be able to move forward progressively towards greater heights.
“It is also important to give Jalil space and freedom to run Berjaya [Corp] in his own style. I can now take a step back from active day-to-day involvement in the group’s businesses and devote more of my time and energy to promote charitable initiatives and other interests. I have been blessed with my fortune and am thankful for the many opportunities Malaysia has given me. Now it’s time to give back,” he said.
He also said he is particularly passionate about building affordably priced homes for Malaysians as housing is a basic need and essential for a person’s sense of dignity, safety and inclusion.
“In the last two years, the Better Malaysia Foundation assembled a ‘brain trust’ of like-minded professionals to help formulate innovative solutions to address the affordability gap faced by low-income Malaysians, namely the B40 (bottom 40% income group) households. We are launching a new social enterprise programme with one national goal, which is to assist our government’s efforts in solving homeownership needs of low-income Malaysians through innovative and sustainable solutions. Our government has always been passionate about providing affordable homes for low-income Malaysians. We believe that the new social enterprise programme will be able to complement the government’s affordable housing agenda,” he said.
Meanwhile, Robin said his father had been mentioning his recent desire to take a step back and to let professionals manage the running of the group.
“By relinquishing his executive role, he will now have more time to pursue his many other passions.
“The BCorp group has evolved much over the years and so has the management. Once the group’s transformation process and plan have stabilised, in accordance with Vincent Tan’s vision of independent professional management, I also plan to step into a non-executive role on the board. This will then also allow me to pursue my own personal passions,” he said.
Jalil Rasheed, who will be taking his first three months to do a strategic review of the group, said he is currently working with Robin and the board to kick-start the transformative process and bring Tan’s future vision for the group to fruition.
“BCorp is a very diversified group and I am meeting my new colleagues in the various businesses to identify core and non-core assets, and clustering the group into consumer verticals, in line with our vision to become a diversified consumer group. We will engage with the public and investment community when we are ready to unveil our strategic plan,” He said.
At the noon break today, BCorp settled two sen higher at 47 sen, valuing the group at RM2.3 billion. The group, among the most actively traded stocks, saw 104.5 million shares change hands.
The counter had risen 161% from 18 sen on March 16, when it appointed Jalil as the group CEO.