SBI Offshore appoints Mirzan Mahathir to its board as director

SBI Offshore announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Mirzan bin Mahathir to its board of directors and is expected to benefit from his oil and gas contacts and experience.

Mirzan Mahathir is former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's son.

His appointment as non-independent, non-executive director follows the partial completion of a share placement to him and two other investors on Monday that raised about S$9.1 million. The proceeds are to be used for working capital, existing and new projects and possible acquisitions by SBI Offshore.

SBI Offshore executive chairman Chan Lai Thong said: "We warmly welcome Mr Mirzan to our board and look forward to working closely with him in charting a new transformational strategy to scale up the value chain in the O&G sector.

"We believe his extensive network and deep experience in facilitating business collaboration will help SBI Offshore accelerate its efforts to enhance shareholder value."

SBI Offshore had said on Aug 27 that it had started talks on the building of up to five jack-up rigs for operation in waters with depths of up to 110 m for a Middle East-Chinese consortium.