Hot stock: SingPost shares fall after CEO quits

SHARES of Singapore Post (SingPost) fell on Friday after its group CEO Wolfgang Baier said he was leaving the mainboard-listed company, catching investors by surprise and leaving the group scrambling to name a successor.

The stock fell 4.5 cents, or 2.6 per cent, to S$1.71 at 9.09am. Some 1.2 million shares changed hands. It was among the most actively traded stocks in the early-morning session.

SingPost ended the day down 4 cents - or 2.3 per cent - at S$1.715, with some 12.4 million shares changing hands.

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.

SingPost 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.