SINGAPORE (Jan 19): Singapore Post has appointed PwC as special auditor to investigate issues surrounding its acquisitions of stakes three companies over the last three years.

SingPost had acquired stakes in Famous Holdings in 2013, FS Mackenzie in 2014 and Famous Pacific Shipping (NZ) in 2015.

Stirling Coleman Capital was the arranger appointed by the seller in the Famous Holdings deal, and the financial advisor to the seller in the FS Mackenzie and Famous Pacific deals.

Keith Tay, SingPost’s non-executive chairman, is also a shareholder of Stirling Coleman Capital.

PwC will review whether the relevant policies, processes and procedures of SingPost were followed in the evaluation and approval process for all three deals and whether the requisite internal approvals were obtained.

It will also look into why there was no disclosure of Tay’s interests and whether or not he was required to and abstained from voting in each transaction.

Meanwhile, SingPost’s board has formed a committee to take charge of a separate corporate governance review.

This review will deal with wider concerns about the quality of SingPost’s corporate governance, such as the independence of its directors, succession planning as well as board renewal and composition.

Soo Nam Chow, a non-executive and independent director, is chair of a corporate governance review committee that is in the midst of setting the scope for this review.

Soo says a request for proposal to appoint an independent consulting firm will be issued once this scope has been settled on.

While declining to commit to a time frame, Soo assures shareholders that it will be a “reasonable” one.