Ex-Sembcorp CEO Tang Kin Fei joins Manhattan Resources as chairman

FORMER Sembcorp Industries chief executive Tang Kin Fei is the new chairman of coal-mining group Manhattan Resources, in a board shake-up announced on Tuesday.

The previous chairman of Manhattan, Liow Keng Teck, died at 77 in 2018.

Mr Tang, 70, was appointed as a non-executive and non-independent board member, and will sit on both the nominating and remuneration committees. He is the father-in-law of the sister of the spouse of Manhattan managing director, chief executive and controlling shareholder Low Yi Ngo, the board disclosed.

The Sembcorp president and chief executive from 2005 to 2017, Mr Tang is now chairman at other companies: mainboard-listed SIA Engineering Co, and Singapore LNG Corp, a liquefied natural gas terminal operator set up by the Energy Market Authority.

Meanwhile, Sembcorp independent director Ajaib Hari Dass, 72, was appointed Manhattan's lead independent director; Henry Wong, 51, the director of programmes at the National Research Foundation, joined as an independent director.

Oliver Khaw, who had been a non-independent director since 2013, resigned on Tuesday, a development which the company said was for board renewal.

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There were no unresolved differences of opinion on material matters, or other information that should be brought to shareholders' attention, the board added.

Mr Khaw, 46, had sat on the audit and remuneration committees. With his departure, controlling shareholder and non-independent director Elaine Low, 34, has joined the audit committee. She is Mr Low's sister.

Mr Low, who also goes by David, said in a statement that the nominating committee "has taken notable efforts ... to rejuvenate the board". He added that the latest appointments "will undoubtedly bring increased strategic focus to the company and pave the way for Manhattan's future growth and transformation".

Shares of the watch-listed Manhattan shed 0.2 Singapore cent, or 2.99 per cent, to 6.5 Singapore cents on Tuesday, before the announcements.