KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 5): MISC Bhd (KL:MISC) chief operating officer (COO) Zahid Osman will take over as the group’s president and group chief executive officer (CEO) from Aug 16, replacing Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, who will step down from his role on Aug 15, after less than two years on the job.

In a bourse filing, MISC said Rajalingam is leaving to pursue other interests. The shipping group thanked him for his exemplary service in the energy-related maritime solutions and services provider, since his appointment to the position in October 2022.

Zahid’s appointment, meanwhile, is in line with the group’s succession planning process, MISC said.

According to MISC, Zahid joined the company in 2017 as vice president of gas assets & solutions, later becoming vice president of corporate planning in 2022.

He has served on the boards of several subsidiaries and joint ventures within the MISC Group and became a director on the board of its petroleum arm AET in January 2020. He was appointed as president & CEO of AET on June 1, 2023, and became COO of MISC on June 1, 2024, while continuing as President & CEO of AET.

Prior to MISC, Zahid worked at Shell Group for over 20 years, holding various management roles in finance, LNG marketing and trading, business development, commercial, upstream production sharing contracts, stakeholder management, joint venture governance, gas advocacy, and project management.

MISC is 51% controlled by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Malaysia’s state energy firm. The group is also among the world’s largest floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) owners and operators, with 12 assets.

Shares in MISC lost 29 sen, or 3.35%, at Monday’s market close, giving it a market capitalisation of RM38.15 billion.