KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 21): Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad, who resigned as Ranhill Utilities Bhd's (KL:RANHILL) executive chairman and director on August 2, has now vacated the group chief executive officer position as well.
The founder of Ranhill tendered his resignation as group CEO effective Wednesday, said the power utility and infrastructure group in a bourse filing.
Ranhill has not announced a successor for the CEO and chairman positions.
Ranhill has seen a slew of boardroom changes since the beginning of the month, following the successful takeover of the group by YTL Power International Bhd (KL:YTLPOWR) and its 70%-owned unit, SIPP Power Sdn Bhd.
Besides Hamdan, others who resigned from Ranhill's board on August 2 were executive directors Datuk Seri Panglima Lim Haw Kuang and Zurina Abdul Rahim, as well as non-independent director Imaan Aiysha Hamdan, who is also Hamdan's daughter.
One week later, the group announced the resignation of another four independent directors, namely Datuk Abdullah Karim, Abu Talib Abdul Rahman, Dr Arzu Topal and Jeffrey Bosra.
Ranhill also announced the appointment of five new directors, four of whom are linked to YTL Power. Yeoh Keong Yeen and Yeoh Keong Yuan were named as executive directors, Faiz Ishak and Annuar Ahmed as non-independent directors and Datuk Seri Yusof Ismail as independent director.
YTL Power became a substantial shareholder in Ranhill in November last year, acquiring a close to 19% stake for RM140 million, or 58 sen per share, from TAEL Management Co (Cayman) Ltd — the private equity firm that supported Hamdan during the privatisation of Ranhill Bhd and Ranhill Utilities in 2011.
A mandatory general offer was triggered in May this year after SIPP acquired a 31.42% equity interest in Ranhill for RM405.18 million, or 99.5 sen per share, from Hamdan.
Shares in Ranhill closed unchanged at RM1.37 on Wednesday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM1.78 billion.