SingPost chairman Lim Ho Kee to step down in May

SINGAPORE Post (SingPost) chairman Lim Ho Kee will relinquish that title on May 10 and resign as a director at the postal carrier's annual general meeting in July 2016, the company announced late on Friday.

In a statement, Mr Lim cited family commitments for the decision.

"Some of you would be aware that I have been planning to step down now for almost three years but had felt compelled to stay and guide management," Mr Lim wrote in a letter to the SingPost board.

Independent director Low Teck Seng will replace Mr Lim as chairman by a unanimous decision of the current board.

The board of directors expressed gratitude for Mr Lim's years of service; he was first appointed as a SingPost director in April 1998 and has been the company's chairman since its initial public offering in 2003.

"He has led us with not just his great intellect and business acumen, but also with his heart," SingPost said. "It is difficult to think of SingPost without Lim Ho Kee."

Mr Lim's pending departure comes in the midst of controversy about the quality of corporate governance at SingPost.

The company recently appointed leadership firm Heidrick & Struggles as an independent consultant to undertake a corporate governance review after the company's December 2015 revelation that it had failed to properly disclose director Keith Tay's interest in a 2014 acquisition.

PwC and Drew & Napier have also been appointed to carry out a special audit to look into the matter.