Saeed Azhar
Reuters
Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, named Hsieh Fu Hua as executive director and president, giving him a more powerful management role to help the sovereign fund find a successor to Chief Executive Ho Ching.
Hsieh, 59, is currently a special adviser to Temasek’s chief executive and executive director Ho Ching. Hsieh, former chief executive at the Singapore Exchange, will take up his new permanent role on August 1, Temasek said in a statement.
Simon Israel is the other executive director in the investment firm, which manages assets of S$172 billion ($123 billion).
Temasek said Hsieh, in his new role, will work closely with Ho Ching and the company’s leadership team and help in talent development and succession planning. Hsieh joined the firm’s board in February.
Temasek is recovering from a volatile 2009 when it lost billions of dollars on investments in global banks such as Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, and its attempt to hire its first foreign CEO failed.
Temasek also said Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, currently the managing partner of law firm WongPartnershup LLP, will join the company as head of portfolio management on Oct 18.
In early 2009, former BHP Billiton CEO Chip Goodyear was named as the designated successor to Ho, who is the wife of Singapore’s prime minister, but Goodyear resigned even before taking office, citing differences over strategy.
Last month, former Morgan Stanley banker Michael Dee, who was hired as part of the drive to internationalise the sovereign fund, stepped down from the post of senior managing director. ($1=1.485 Singapore dollar)