Ms. Chew Gek Khim, executive chairman of Straits Trading Company (STC), said the company did not sign any contract with OCBC Bank on the development of the prime Specialists’ Shopping Centre and Hotel Phoenix site in Orchard Road.
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“Contrary to popular belief, there was no agreement… there was nothing in writing,” said Ms. Chew.
There has been speculation that relations between OCBC Bank and STC were no longer like before ever since the bank announced in March that it is in talks with United Engineers Limited, a construction and property group, to build a mall and hotel on the site.
STC was the original player lined up for the project. It announced in January 2008 that it was in “advanced negotiations” with OCBC about redeveloping the land parcel.
STC was once part of the OCBC/Lee family stable before it was acquired by the Tecity group in a high-profile takeover in 2008.
Ms. Chew is the granddaughter of the late Tan Chin Tuan, the former chairman of OCBC. Mr. Tan founded Tecity, which had held a share in Straits Trading since the 1950s.
“Well, put it this way, if you have nothing in writing, then all transactions should be viewed at commercially and arms length,” Ms. Chew said in a recent interview.
“As a major shareholder of Straits Trading, I would want all transactions to be commercially beneficial to Straits Trading,” she added.
Tecity group now owns 89 percent of STC – a holding firm with businesses ranging from mining and smelting to hotel investment and real estate development.
“That’s too complicated,” Ms. Chew said on why she engineered the takeover in 2008.
Over the past two years, she has been very busy restructuring the company with an intention to draw out the best value for shareholders. She has strengthened its management and employed experienced professionals to operate its businesses. Mr. Eric Teng, former chief executive of Tecity, heads STC’s property unit.
The hospitality division is now run by Mr. Iqbal Jumabhoy, who has worked in several listed companies. Ms. Maureen Leong, who was once connected with Sembcorp Industries, is now the group chief financial officer.
STC is an investment firm and its subsidiaries should be considered as business investments, she said.
With the property division of STC considered as the “meat” of the group, she is mulling over what the balance should be in terms of what to hold for rental income and how much should be developed for sale.
The real estate assets of STC include a 28-storey building at Battery Road, its flagship Straits Trading Building, a 38-unit Gallop Green condo and about one-million-sq-ft tract of land at Butterworth, Penang, four developed bungalows and five plots of bungalow land in Nathan and Cable Roads.
STC announced in April that it had bought over the development of 12 bungalows in Chancery Lane.
Ms. Chew also revealed that for this year, the remuneration committee has decided that she will get a total package of $750,000, more than thrice the director’s fee of $250,000 she received last year.