Straits Trading Company strives to unlock value, boost returns

RADIATING pragmatism from every pore, Chew Gek Khim is down to earth, thanks in part to her late maternal grandfather, pioneer banker and philanthropist Tan Chin Tuan.

"I was brought up to be a very practical person," the petite executive chairman of The Straits Trading Company Ltd - one of Singapore's oldest firms established in the 1880s - said with a laugh.

In the late 1980s, after three years with law firm Drew & Napier, the National University of Singapore law graduate joined family investment vehicle Tecity Group, founded by her grandfather. From him, Ms Chew gleaned many valuable life lessons.

Dr Tan served as chairman of Straits Trading since 1965 for more than two decades, and OCBC Bank from 1966 to 1983. He was known as a shrewd businessma…