Tan Chee Keong

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): Supermax Corp Bhd, which came under the spotlight recently as a strain within the Thai family resurfaced over the purchase of a private jet, has announced a new chief executive and senior executive director, Tan Chee Keong, also known as CK Tan.

CK Tan is the nephew of both Supermax's co-founders Datuk Seri Stanley Thai Kim Sim and his wife Datuk Wira Cheryl Tan Bee Geok.

Chee Keong's appointment is part of a boardroom restructure to drive synergy across the group's operations in both Malaysia and the US, the glove maker said in a statement on Monday.

He has been with the group since 2000, first as the Vice President of Aurelia Gloves, a division of Supermax Healthcare Inc, and later as CEO of Supermax Healthcare, a post which he will continue to hold.

Also appointed were four new independent non-executive directors Gan Kim Khoon, Shelley Wong Phait Lee, Dr Yap Lang Ling and Yip Kit Weng. The group also appointed Tan Bow Kok, as the new chief operations officer.

The slew of appointments, which will take effect from Jan 2024, came less than two weeks after Cheryl, who co-founded Supermax with Stanley, was quoted as saying in a news article that there was a need for a "balanced board with more independent directors with the right mindset to provide checks and balances" in the group to drive it forward.

Her comments at the time were met coldly by Supermax's board, which issued a statement to say that shareholders without any management role or position in the board of directors had no authority to make any official statement on the group's behalf.

Cheryl, who was once a group executive director, no longer holds any management role in the company. She and Stanley, the group's executive chairman, have a 40.29% stake in the company, held via Supermax Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Cheryl's criticism against Supermax's board came about eight months after her eldest daughter, Cecile Jaclyn Thai, stepped down as non-independent non-executive director in April, with Cecile claiming she had been bullied and silenced by other board members, including her father Stanley, when she tried to uphold her fiduciary duties. Her allegations were later dismissed by the Supermax board, which said they were unfounded.

At the time, Cecile, 35, had opposed Stanley's proposal to buy a new aircraft for US$47.39 million (RM210.32 million) to replace one that was acquired a year before. A month before that, Cecile’s sister, Aurelia Joie Thai, 30, also disputed the purchase of the aircraft, which she claimed resulted in attempts to remove her as director at one of Supermax's subsidiaries.

A week after Cecilia’s departure, the company's independent non-executive director Sharon Sung Fong Fui also left the board, citing personal commitments and rising workload in another public-listed company. Another independent non-executive director who left the board a few months later was Tan Poh Chan. Appointed on July 1, Poh Chan resigned on Dec 8.

In a news article published on Dec 7, Cheryl blamed the aircraft’s purchase as one of the main causes of Supermax’s continued loss for four consecutive quarters while its peers had returned to the black.

Supermax, in its latest statement on Monday, said the new organisational structure and appointments are designed to further strengthen the management team to support the group’s expanded distribution and future manufacturing footprint in the US, as well as its commitment to deliver product excellence to global customers.

In the same statement, Stanley said the new board appointees' wealth of knowledge and experience in their respective fields will prove invaluable in contributing to the formation of a well-balanced and dynamic board of directors for the company.

“Supermax is a progressive company continually evolving with the times and will therefore benefit from a strong board of directors with representation in various fields.

“We also foresee market challenges to persist in the coming quarters, however, we are not deterred as our new organisational structure will position us well to drive the next level of growth,” he said.

Shares in Supermax ended nine sen or 9.78% higher at RM1.01, valuing the glove maker at RM2.75 billion.

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