Darco deputy chair will not seek re-election at next AGM

DARCO Water Technologies' Robert Wang Zhi has stated his desire to retire from his directorship and as deputy chairman, and will not seek a re-election at the next annual general meeting.

This was disclosed in the company's response to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX), following Darco's March 17 disclosure that it had received a letter from a group of shareholders urging the company to commence legal action against Mr Wang and another individual.

In Tuesday's response, the company said a meeting of its nominating committee had been held on March 11. At the meeting, the nominating committee had noted Mr Wang's desire to retire from his directorship and as deputy chairman of Darco. (See clarification note.)

The nominating committee has accepted and respects Mr Wang's decision to retire and will recommend to the company not to put him up for re-election.

But it added that: "Nothing has come to the attention of the nominating committee which would suggest that Mr Wang Zhi is not fit or suitable to continue as a director if he had elected not to retire from his directorship."

This was in response to SGX's request for the committee's assessment of Mr Wang's suitability to carry on as director. Darco replied that Mr Wang's expressed wish makes this assessment "no longer relevant", but if he had decided to stay on, the board would continue with the evaluation.

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SGX also asked who was the "one other person" against whom the group of shareholders had asked the company to commence action, alleging wrongdoing. Darco replied that he was Pek Thiam Keong, also known as Patrick Pek, and he is neither a director, employee nor member of the management of Darco.

These shareholders had on March 17 alleged that the two individuals had breached duties through their involvement in transactions with Qarah Consultancy, which Darco said it had engaged to independently assess the group's projects in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Vietnam. It engaged the consultancy for three months on a retainer basis and paid a fixed monthly retainer fee of S$7,000, or S$21,000 in all.

Mr Wang was appointed to the board in April 2018, and had, for some time, faced opposition from a group of shareholders, including founder Thye Kim Meng, who stepped down as chief executive in 2019.

Shares of Darco last closed at S$0.19 on March 17.

Clarification note: This article has been updated to clarify that Mr Wang's desire to retire pre-dates the announcement regarding the receipt of a letter from shareholders as well as the queries from the Singapore Exchange.