Longer Battersea, Qinzhou roles for Liew

By Sharen Kaur
Published in NST on March 21, 2014

SHAH ALAM: Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin, who is leaving SP Setia Bhd next month, will continue to head the Battersea project in London and the Qinzhou Industrial Park development in China for a further 18 months to ensure continuity and maintain confidence.

  The RM40 billion Battersea project and the Industrial Park in China are expected to be developed over the next 10 to 15 years.

  Liew, who is SP Setia president and chief executive officer, will step down from his posts on April 30 after 19 years in office.

  However, Liew will remain as  Battersea Project Holdings Co Ltd chairman and  Qinzhou Development (M) Consortium Sdn Bhd managing director until September 2015.

 "My focus now will be on my family and developing the Battersea and Qinzhou projects, which will take up a lot of my time.

 "It is not easy to just walk off as I have been heading SP Setia for so long. But there will be a smooth transition," he said after a press conference, here, yesterday.

  Liew also said he will not take on offers to advise SP Setia.

  "I cannot linger around the company as it needs its own space to grow. The projects in London and China are important for Malaysia because of the strong government-to-government ties and the board has entrusted both to me. Those who know me  will know that I am hands-on. I will do whatever necessary to ensure the success of  the two projects before I move on to pursue other things," he said.

   Liew believed that SP Setia will continue to grow under acting-president and CEO Datuk Voon Tin Yow and his management team.

   He said with 1,935ha of prime land and potential gross development value of RM71 billion from projects in Malaysia, London, Australia, China and Vietnam, coupled with unbilled sales of RM9.6 billion and RM2.2 billion in cash, will provide SP Setia with a solid footing on which to grow.  

  Meanwhile, Voon is upbeat that SP Setia's net profit and revenue will be on an upswing  in the next three years.

  "We will discuss soon with PNB (Permodalan Nasional Bhd) on  SP Setia's future and what it wants for the company. We will chart out a new path together," he said.  

  PNB and other government-linked funds control 72 per cent of SP Setia.