Amara appoints 3 new independent directors, makes changes to committees

THE board of property developer and hotel group Amara Holdings : A34 0%has appointed Bill Chua Teck Huat, Ginney Lim May Ling and George Seow Ewe Keong as its independent directors (IDs), on the recommendation of its nominating committee (NC).

The appointments, which took effect on Wednesday (May 11), come after the departure of two of the group’s IDs. Previous lead ID Foo Ko Hing’s resignation took effect on Apr 27, and Tan Tiong Cheng stepped down after the resolution for him to be re-elected as ID failed to pass at the group’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Apr 26.

In a previous announcement to the Singapore bourse, Foo resigned due to "preoccupations and personal reasons". Chia Kwok Ping, the only ID in Amara from the previous board, had also previously indicated his intention to step down from the board. In the bourse filing, however, he is indicated to be continuing as a board member.

One of the three appointees, Chua, has been named chairman of the NC of Amara. He replaces Chia, who continues to serve in the NC as a member. Chua, 68, will also be a member of the remuneration committee (RC) and audit committee (AC). He currently holds 6 other ID positions — at Citibank Singapore, Boardroom Executive Group, United Hampshire US REIT, Sunseap Group, IES-INCA, and Newcastle Australia Institute of Higher Education.

Chua is also the director of Green Sands Equity, and was managing director and head of global financial institutions group at UOB from May 2011 to November 2014.

ID Lim has been appointed the chairperson of Amara’s RC, and will also serve as a member of the AC and NC. She is currently a director in 4 companies: Times Development, Orchard 290, SPH Reit Management, SPH Reit (Investments).

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She is also a member of the NUS Law Advisory Council and a specialist mediator at Singapore International Mediation Centre. The 61-year-old now heads the Secretariat and Legal Division, and oversees the Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility Division of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).

Seventy-two-year-old Seow, the third of the new appointees, will chair Amara’s AC, and be a member of the NC and RC.

The latest announcement comes amid a series of controversial events at Amara. In a LinkedIn post in April, NUS Business School’s Professor Mak Yuen Teen commented that Amara’s annual report lacked transparency in the disclosure of its directors’ remuneration.

Amara replied that it took this format of disclosure because it is operating in a competitive industry, in which its key management personnel are susceptible to poaching. It also said it wants to “maintain confidentiality” and the “sensitivity of remuneration information”.

After the AGM in April, Amara issued a notification to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) announcing Tan’s cessation as an ID. Tan had indicated “outstanding material issues” before the RC, which he chaired previously.

Shares of Amara closed down 1.4 per cent or S$0.005 at S$0.345 on Wednesday, before the announcement.