It was a tearful and emotional farewell on Sunday, April 20 for more than 1,000 staff at S P Setia Bhd’s farewell dinner for its outgoing president and CEO Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin.
One of Malaysia’s largest property developers by market cap with operations in seven countries, staff arrived at the private function held at Setia City Convention Centre, Shah Alam to bid farewell to the man who has been driving the company for more than two decades.
For those who have left S P Setia, or crossed over to Eco World Development Group Bhd (EcoWorld) and its subsidiaries, a new journey awaits them. EcoWorld is the property development company controlled by former executives of SP Setia Bhd. Liew’s son, Tian Xiong, 23, has a majority stake there.
For those who are staying behind, two questions once left on the back burner have come to the fore - What is S P Setia going be like post-Liew? What will their future be? One is a corporate question, the other a personal one. Hopefully, in the next five to six months, there may be more clarity to this.
However, on a national level, a far larger question looms ahead - what are Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) plans?
According to its website, PNB, incorporated in 1978, was conceived as an instrument of the Government’s New Economic Policy to promote bumiputra-share ownership in the corporate sector among the bumiputras. It is tasked to develop opportunities for deserving bumiputera professionals to participate in the creation and management of wealth.
Malaysia’s premier investment institution, it has acquired many large and strategic companies, many of them industrial leaders in their respective fields.
About two weeks ago, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who heads PNB’s trustees board, said PNB is managing more than RM267bil of the people’s funds, through various trust funds such as Amanah Saham Nasional, Amanah Saham Bumiputera, Amanah Saham Malaysia, AS1Malaysia and proprietary funds. PNB also has assets overseas.
As for the companies in its stable, the website said the drive for value has prompted PNB to undertake a series of corporate exercises, where companies under the PNB portfolio were reorganised, merged or acquired to increase their operational efficiency and to attain synergistic benefits to enable PNB to achieve its aim for consistent returns.
S P Setia is one of the market leaders in the property sector in PNB’s stable. In 2011, PNB aggressively launched a takeover of the company. That same year, PNB president/group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said the move was part of the asset manager’s long-term strategies to enhance property investments besides strengthening its portfolio, which include stakes in the banking, plantation and automotive industries. PNB has a 65% stake in SP Setia today. Other property companies in its stable are I & P Group Bhd (which it has taken private) and Sime Darby Bhd.
