Cordlife shareholders vote for fresh board of directors, co-founder among those ousted

The Straits Times05-14

SINGAPORE - Shareholders of troubled cord blood bank Cordlife voted to remove three directors from its board at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) held at Temasek Club on May 14. More than 63...

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Shareholders of troubled cord blood bank Cordlife voted to remove three directors from its board at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) held at Temasek Club on May 14. \nMore than 63...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cordlife-shareholders-vote-for-fresh-board-of-directors-co-founder-among-those-ousted\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"BK6511","symbol_name":"医疗保健服务概念","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cordlife-shareholders-vote-for-fresh-board-of-directors-co-founder-among-those-ousted","article_id":"2435992665","we_media_id":null,"thumbnails":[],"rights":{"source":"straits_highlight","url":"https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/cordlife-shareholders-vote-for-fresh-board-of-directors-co-founder-among-those-ousted","rn_cache_url":null,"customStyle":"","selectors":"body","filters":"","directOrigin":true},"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2435992665","pubTimestamp":1715684119,"sourceInfo":{"source_id":"straits_highlight","name":"Straits Times"},"weMediaInfo":null,"summary":"SINGAPORE - Shareholders of troubled cord blood bank Cordlife voted to remove three directors from its board at the company’s annual general meeting  held at Temasek Club on May 14.More than 63 per cent of shareholders voted to remove acting chairman and Cordlife co-founder Dr Ho Choon Hou and independent director Yeo Hwee Tiong.They also voted against the re-election of another independent director, Mr Titus Cheong.Around 200 million shares of Cordlife’s 255,977,394 ordinary shares were represented at the AGM.The moves come after Cordlife was thrust into the spotlight for lapses faced by its storage tanks last year.The lapses, involving seven storage tanks that were exposed to temperatures above acceptable limits, were uncovered by the Ministry of Health , which later suspended the cord-blood bank from collecting or processing new cord blood for six months since Dec 15, 2023.The outcome of the AGM paves the way for potential changes like a new top executive at Cordlife, should the new","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"straitstimes.com","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"BK6511":"医疗保健服务概念","BK6100":"保健护理服务","P8A.SI":"康盛人生"},"translate_title":"Cordlife股东投票选举新董事会，被罢免者中的联合创始人","themeId":null,"isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":null,"symbols_score_info":{"P8A.SI":1},"content_text":"SINGAPORE - Shareholders of troubled cord blood bank Cordlife voted to remove three directors from its board at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) held at Temasek Club on May 14. \nMore than 63 per cent of shareholders voted to remove acting chairman and Cordlife co-founder Dr Ho Choon Hou and independent director Yeo Hwee Tiong.\n\nThey also voted against the re-election of another independent director, Mr Titus Cheong.  \n\n\n\nAround 200 million shares of Cordlife’s 255,977,394 ordinary shares were represented at the AGM.\n\nThe moves come after Cordlife was thrust into the spotlight for lapses faced by its storage tanks last year.\nThe lapses, involving seven storage tanks that were exposed to temperatures above acceptable limits, were uncovered by the Ministry of Health (MOH), which later suspended the cord-blood bank from collecting or processing new cord blood for six months since Dec 15, 2023.\n\n\n\n\nThe outcome of the AGM paves the way for potential changes like a new top executive at Cordlife, should the new board of directors decide to change the direction of the company.\n\n\nIn the weeks leading up to the AGM, two substantial shareholders - Transglobal Real Estate Group and Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store - had gone head-to-head in a boardroom tussle to oust several board members and appoint new ones.\n\nNanjing Xinjiekou filed resolutions to remove four directors: Dr Ho, who is also a co-founder of Cordlife, Mr Yeo, Mr Cheong and Mr Joseph Wong. Mr Wong said he would retire after the AGM.  \nIt also wanted to appoint three new directors – Dr Teo Tong Kooi, Dr Xu Tianhong and Mr Cai Yong – to replace the three Singapore-based directors, Dr Ho, Mr Yeo and Mr Cheong.\n\n\n\n\nCordlife’s other controlling shareholder, TransGlobal, had requisitioned to remove one director, Mr Zhai Lingyun, in a separate notice.\nMr Zhai is also chairman of Nanjing Xinjiekou, which is listed in Shanghai. The company operates in six segments, including health and elderly care services, and has run a large-scale cord blood bank for the past 30 years.\n\nIn open letters to shareholders prior to the AGM, Dr Ho, Mr Yeo and Mr Cheong had argued that they should stay on the board because they have been the key people involved in the company’s rectification efforts and are clear about what needs to be done to turn it around.\n\nThey pointed out that the directors Nanjing Xiejiekou want to appoint lack relevant knowledge of the local healthcare regulatory landscape.\n\nMeanwhile, Nanjing Xinjiekou criticised certain members of the board, including the three it wanted to remove, for corporate governance issues and failure to appoint a group CEO with experience in cord blood banking.\n\nCordlife’s current CEO Ivan Yiu Pang Fai, an executive director from TransGlobal’s family office in Hong Kong, was appointed to replace former CEO Tan Poh Lan on Feb 19.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMore On This Topic\n\n \n\nCordlife to cancel private placement; MOH highlights importance of having Singapore-based directors \n\n\n\n \n\nNanjing Xinjiekou seeks shareholders’ support at AGM to emerge from ‘darkest chapter’ in Cordlife’s history\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn an open letter to shareholders issued  on May 9, Nanjing Xinjiekou said that if they successfully reconstituted the board, they would identify a “suitable candidate with the requisite track record and expertise in the cord blood banking industry to be Cordlife’s new group chief executive officer”. \nIt also promised to transfer existing resources and manpower, including laboratory and technical experts from China, the United States and Hong Kong to improve technical processes at the company.\n\nFollowing the AGM, the new board of directors now consists of Mr Zhai, Dr Teo, Dr Xu and Mr Cai, while three existing directors - Ms Chen Xiaoling, Mr Yiu Ming Yiu and Mr Chow Wai Leong were re-elected.\n\nIn a Singapore Exchange filing on May 13, Cordlife said that it was under a legal duty to ensure that if more than four key appointment holders were to be removed or substituted from the board at the AGM, the company must ensure that such a change does not take effect until it provides a one-month notice to the Ministry of Health.\n\nFailure to do so would mean the company could be liable for penalties.\n\nThe outcome of the AGM means that Cordlife has not contravened any rules. \nMinority shareholder Lim Boon Song, 43, felt that this was a favourable outcome for all stakeholders.\n\n“The ex-board of directors were tardy in acting until the MOH’s investigation… For parents, and employees, a change of directors would mean current and subsequent internal investigations could be overseen by fresher eyes,” said Mr Lim.\n\nAnother minority shareholder who only wanted to be known as Mr Jude said he was surprised by the results as he expected closer margins.\n\nThe 70-year-old businessman said: “I’m surprised people voted in favour of (Nanjing Xinjiekou) because we don’t know much about them. They’re not Singaporeans and they’re not here. They haven’t really given a plan on what they want to do with the company.”\n\nAsked about his thoughts post-AGM, Mr Ho said: “I am happy that the AGM was conducted with decorum, with views heard from shareholders and questions posed.\n\n“The board serves at the pleasure of the shareholders and they have cast their votes. I wish the leadership all the best and hope that they continue to fulfil our obligations to our clients who entrusted us.”\n\nShares of Cordlife last traded at 13 cents on May 13.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMore On This Topic\n\n \n\nCordlife’s duelling major shareholders lay out separate plans to address issues after AGM\n\n\n\n \n\nShareholder unhappiness brewing at Cordlife","kind":null,"is_publish_news":null,"is_publish_highlight":null,"is_publish_live":null,"is_publish_wemedia":null,"editions":null,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":1},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","isDev":false,"isTTM":true,"deviceId":"web-server-community-laohu8-v3","version":"4.22.5","shortVersion":"4.22.5","platform":"web","vendor":"web","appName":"ttm","isIOS":false,"isAndroid":false,"isTiger":false,"isTHS":false,"isWeiXin":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"isWeiBo":false,"isQQ":false,"isBaiduSwan":false,"isBaiduBox":false,"isDingTalk":false,"isToutiao":false,"isOnePlus":false,"isHuaWei":false,"isXiaomi":false,"isXiaomiWebView":false,"isOppo":false,"isVivo":false,"isSamsung":false,"isMobile":false},"href":"/m/news/2435992665"}