Wolfgang Baier abruptly quits SingPost

Singapore

OVERNIGHT delivery: shock resignation from local corporate darling. Singapore Post's (SingPost) head honcho Wolfgang Baier said on Thursday evening that he was quitting the mainboard-listed company, catching investors by surprise and leaving the group scrambling to name a successor.

His abrupt move has sparked speculation that Dr Baier, known for transforming SingPost from a staid mailman into an e-commerce logistics player, may have been poached by another global firm in a similar space.

One question now is how quickly SingPost can find someone to take the reins, given that there is no immediately evident succession plan in place and the group needed roughly one and a half years to appoint a new chief the previous time round.

Dr Baier, 41, said in a statement that he was leaving to "pursue new endeavours" and would "ensure a smooth handover before I leave". He declined to elaborate on that in an e-mail reply to The Business Times, saying: "It's been a good five years . . . I am confident that SingPost is well positioned to ride on the huge e-commerce logistics opportunities ahead."

SingPost did not reveal whether it had shortlisted any successors, but said in a press release after market close on Thursday that the board was looking for a group CEO "both internally and externally". It said that Mervyn Lim, deputy group chief executive for corporate services, will cover the work of the group CEO and Dr Baier would be around to "support a handover" until latest June 30, 2016.

That Dr Baier will be around for six more months suggests that his departure may be due more to pull factors rather than push, market observers noted, adding that his reinvention of SingPost may have attracted the attention of some even bigger fish.

Dr Baier's departure announcement comes about four years after he took the helm on Oct 5, 2011. He had joined SingPost as CEO (International) in charge of the group's international wing in February 2011. Before that, he was a partner at consultancy McKinsey. He was named SingPost's group CEO after a long hunt that lasted about 18 months, after his predecessor Wilson Tan resigned in April 2010. Mr Tan was, at that time, the third SingPost CEO to resign within a span of five years.

Under Dr Baier, SingPost has made a series of tie-ups and acquisitions over the past few years. These include buying into self-storage companies, inking a partnership with Changi ground handling specialist SATS, buying Australia-based parcel delivery company Couriers Please for A$95 million (S$97.1 million) and snapping up US-based e-commerce provider TradeGlobal for US$168.6 million.

Notably, it has also caught the eye of global giants such as Chinese firm Alibaba, led by billionaire Jack Ma, which shelled out S$312.5 million for a 10.35 per cent stake in SingPost in 2014 at S$1.42 per share. SingPost also emerged in May 2015 as the first logistics partner of Alibaba.com's Alibaba Merchant Delivery Scheme.

Alibaba later said in July 2015 that it wanted to pump in another US$138.6 million to boost its SingPost stake to 14.51 per cent. But the deal has yet to go through and the long-stop date has been extended from Nov 30, 2015 to Feb 29, 2016.

Dr Baier looks to be leaving the group just as it enters a post-M&A integration stage. OCBC Investment Research noted in a Nov 3 report that the group is now more dependent on overseas revenue and e-commerce revenue, with logistics being its star performer.

CIMB Research said in a Nov 3 note: "So far, acquisitions have contributed to significant revenue growth, but earnings have yet to flow through given continued investments."

The group said in Singapore Exchange filings on Thursday that it would appoint its deputy chairman Goh Yeow Tin, 64, as executive director for 12 months with effect from Jan 1, 2016, to oversee post-merger integration activities and its Singapore operations. Mr Goh will cease to be chairman and member of the board's compensation committee and will be succeeded in that role by Tan Yam Pin.

Group chairman Lim Ho Kee will also step up his involvement to "provide management with more time and guidance", the group said.

How Dr Baier's resignation will affect the stock price remains to be seen. "At this level, obviously people will be concerned. SingPost has done very well so this could cause a bit of nervousness in the market," a seasoned market insider said. "But it's not going to collapse."

SingPost shares closed two Singapore cents lower at S$1.755 on Thursday before the announcement.