KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 19): Former Employee Provident Fund (EPF) chief executive officer (CEO) Tunku Alizakri Raja Muhammad Alias has resigned from his role as non-independent non-executive director of United Plantations Bhd, eight months after he joined the group’s board on June 1, 2023.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Monday, United Plantations said Tunku Alizakri resigned due to “perceived conflict of interest”.

He was the CEO of EPF from August 2018 to February 2021. Prior to that, Tunku Alizakri was the deputy CEO (strategy) of EPF.

As at Feb 15, EPF owns a 5.88% direct stake in United Plantations.

Currently, Tunku Alizakri is a board member of Bumi Armada Bhd and Petronas Dagangan Bhd, as well as the chairman of Malaysian Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap). He also sits on the board of Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd and Yayasan Hasanah.

More recently, in September 2023, Tunku Alizakri was appointed as chairman of Penjana Kapital Sdn Bhd, a company set up by the government to manage the Dana Penjana Nasional (DPN) programme, under which the government matches up to RM600 million on a one-to-one basis, funds that are raised by venture capital fund managers from foreign and private local investors.

United Plantations, whose counter was the biggest gainer on Bursa Malaysia on Monday, closed 52 sen or 2.60% higher to settle at its all-time high of RM20.52, translating into a market capitalisation of RM8.54 billion. The counter breached RM20 last Thursday (Feb 15).