Director and Founding Member, Corporate Monitor Limited

Tan Yee Peng

Director and Founding Member

Strengthening Corporate Performance

Corporate Monitor Limited

Corporate Monitor was established to encourage better performance of companies, particularly companies listed on the SGX, and hold their management and boards to account, for the benefit of their shareholders and stakeholders.

Keppel Infrastructure Trust is a listed business trust that provides investors with the opportunity to invest in a large and well-diversified portfolio of core infrastructure assets located in jurisdictions with well-developed legal frameworks that support infrastructure investment. The Trust aims to provide long-term, regular, and sustainable distributions to its unit holders.

<ul><li>Corporate Monitor strongly recommends that unitholders of Keppel Infrastructure Trust (“KIT”) reject the proposed acquisition of a 46.7% interest in Global Marine Group (“GMG”) for approximately S$119 million, with additional equity commitment of S$68 million.</li><li>Keppel Infrastructure Fund (“KIF”), managed by Keppel Ltd., owns another 46.7% stake and the balance is held by a co-investor.</li><li>KIT argues that GMG operates in a resilient, high-barrier subsea cable industry supported by strong structural demand drivers.</li></ul>

Corporate Monitor strongly recommends that unitholders of Keppel Infrastructure Trust (“KIT”) reject the proposed acquisition of a 46.7% interest in Global Marine Group (“GMG”) for approximately S$119 million, with additional equity commitment of S$68 million.Keppel Infrastructure Fund (“KIF”), managed by Keppel Ltd., owns another 46.7% stake and the balance is held by a co-investor.KIT argues that GMG operates in a resilient, high-barrier subsea cable industry supported by strong structural demand drivers.

Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) - Global Marine Group Acquisition: A Case for Rejection

ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited provides bus, taxi, car leasing and rental, automotive engineering, maintenance services, and diesel sales.  The Group also provides investment trading and operates vehicle inspection and assessment services, and advertising services.

<ul>
<li>A decade of stagnant revenue and declining profits, despite significant capital investments in overseas expansion.</li>
<li>CDG was destroying shareholder value. Return on Equity (“ROE”) had fallen to 6.9% in 2023, almost half the 13.3% recorded in 2015. More critically, ROE remained below its 9% cost of equity.</li>
<li>Lack of strategic clarity on how its growth strategy aligns with long-term shareholder value creation.</li>
</ul>


A decade of stagnant revenue and declining profits, despite significant capital investments in overseas expansion.
CDG was destroying shareholder value. Return on Equity (“ROE”) had fallen to 6.9% in 2023, almost half the 13.3% recorded in 2015. More critically, ROE remained below its 9% cost of equity.
Lack of strategic clarity on how its growth strategy aligns with long-term shareholder value creation.


ComfortDelgro: Chasing Growth, Missing Returns?

Vicom Limited provides motor vehicle inspection and other related services.  The Company also provides motor vehicle assessment services and investment trading.

<ul><li>What does a company do when its original business is producing good profitability, strong cashflow and return on equity (“ROE”), but no growth?</li><li>VICOM Ltd. (“VICOM”) is one such company.</li><li>It is a pioneer in Singapore’s Vehicle Inspection industry and has close to 73% market share, in an industry whose demand is guaranteed by government regulation that all vehicles have to be inspected at regular intervals.</li></ul>

What does a company do when its original business is producing good profitability, strong cashflow and return on equity (“ROE”), but no growth?VICOM Ltd. (“VICOM”) is one such company.It is a pioneer in Singapore’s Vehicle Inspection industry and has close to 73% market share, in an industry whose demand is guaranteed by government regulation that all vehicles have to be inspected at regular intervals.

Keppel Corporation Limited's core businesses are offshore and marine, infrastructure, property investment and development, telecommunications and transportation, energy, and engineering.

<ul><li>Keppel’s sale of M1 to SIMBA generated a lot of interest. However, the most important question goes unanswered: Did Keppel make money since the privatization of M1 in 2018?</li><li>Keppel has been reticent about this question, which is odd as this goes to the heart of Keppel’s Vision 2030 transformation plan: to be a global asset manager with Funds Under Management of S$200 billion.</li><li>Keppel has insisted that its operating capability differentiates it from other money managers such as Blackstone, Brookfield, KKR, Carlyle, TPG, etc. Connectivity is a main business unit of Keppel, and M1 has been a key business within this vertical.</li></ul>

Keppel’s sale of M1 to SIMBA generated a lot of interest. However, the most important question goes unanswered: Did Keppel make money since the privatization of M1 in 2018?Keppel has been reticent about this question, which is odd as this goes to the heart of Keppel’s Vision 2030 transformation plan: to be a global asset manager with Funds Under Management of S$200 billion.Keppel has insisted that its operating capability differentiates it from other money managers such as Blackstone, Brookfield, KKR, Carlyle, TPG, etc. Connectivity is a main business unit of Keppel, and M1 has been a key business within this vertical.

Keppel Ltd. M1: From Privatization to Divestment, What Has Keppel Achieved?

StarHub Ltd. is a fully-integrated info-communication company offering a full range of information, communications, and entertainment services for both consumer and corporate markets in Singapore. The Company provides mobile network and multi-channel cable TV services, including high definition and on-demand services, as well as high-speed residential broadband services.

<ul><li>We commend StarHub for putting shareholder returns as a key priority; it is front and centre in its annual reports, and a significant portion of the CEO’s compensation is tied to returns targets.</li><li>This is certainly not common among SGX listed companies, many of which do not even have Return on Equity (“ROE”) targets.</li><li>In fact, less than 20% of SGX companies have 5-year average ROE of more than 10%, which is approximately the cost of equity for most companies.</li></ul>

We commend StarHub for putting shareholder returns as a key priority; it is front and centre in its annual reports, and a significant portion of the CEO’s compensation is tied to returns targets.This is certainly not common among SGX listed companies, many of which do not even have Return on Equity (“ROE”) targets.In fact, less than 20% of SGX companies have 5-year average ROE of more than 10%, which is approximately the cost of equity for most companies.

Starhub Ltd: An Analysis of the Returns to Shareholders and Governance

Tan Yee Peng is a director and founding member of Corporate Monitor Limited. She holds an extensive career spanning over twenty years in the fields of accounting and audit. Her professional journey includes a significant tenure as a partner at KPMG in Singapore from 2003 to 2010 providing accounting and advisory services to diverse sectors. Additionally, she held responsibilities to uphold KPMG’s technical and professional standards, as well as overseeing the employees’ developmental needs of its 2,000 staff.

After her retirement as a practising accountant, Yee Peng remained actively engaged in both academia and the non-profit sector. She served as an adjunct associate professor at the Nanyang Technological University until 2018. In the non-profit domain, her roles included board roles at TTSH Community Fund, Ren Ci Hospital, and Vanguard Health Fund.

Presently, Ms Tan holds prominent positions on various boards, including charities, government-affiliated organisations, publicly listed and private companies.  

Ms Tan holds a Bachelor of Accountancy (First Class Honours) degree from the Nanyang Technological University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors.