By YTL Community News
Tan Sri (Dr.) Francis Yeoh, Managing Director of YTL Group won the accolade of being one of Asias best executive 2008 under the Asias best companies & executives category awards. ASIAMONEY talks to fund managers andanalysts to determine the best managed small, medium and large cap corporations and best executives across the region. Some attribute this patience to his Christianity. An investment banker close to Yeoh says heoften invites staff and advisers to pray before and after deal completion meetings. Whether or not Yeoh's success is the result of divine intervention, he has a knack of timing deals well.
Amongst Asias best executives 2008 were Grant King, Managing Director of Origin Energy in Australia, Zhu Min, Executive Vice-President of Bank of China, Vincent Cheng, Chairman of HSBC in Hong Kong, Liew Mun Leong, CEO of CapitaLand in Singapore, Tadashi Yanai, Chairman & CEO of Fast Retailingin Japan, Om Prakash Bhatt, Chairman of State Bank of India, Nam Yong, CEO of LG Electronics in Korea, Morris Chang, Chairman of TSMC in Taiwan, Manuel Pangilinan, Chairman of PLDT in The Philippines, Khalid Hashim, Managing Director of Precious Shipping in Thailand and Graeme Pitkethly, CFO of Unilever Indonesia.
Asiamoney, December 2008/January 2009 issue:
BEST EXECUTIVEFrancis Yeoh, managing director, YTL Group
Francis Yeoh, managing director of sprawling hotels-to-water empire YTL Group, was born into a wealthy business. He inherited his wealthy father's construction company in 1986.
But the canny business leader has proven his mettle in the years since. Under Yeoh's prudent stewardship, YTL entered both the 1997-8 Asian crisis and the current credit crisis in financial health.
Yeoh sits patiently on the sidelines during bull markets, waiting until businesses run into trouble and need to sell up cheaply. Some attribute this patience to his Christianity. An investment banker close to Yeoh says he often invites staff and advisers to pray before and after deal completion meetings. Whether or not Yeoh's success is the result of divine intervention, he has a knack of timing deals well.
In 2002, after Enron collapsed, YTL bought Britain's Wessex Water for a very cheap 1.2 billion (US$1.8 billion). And as times get tough across Asia, YTL has RM12 billion in net cash and Yeoh is on the look-out for bargains.
In October, YTL bought controlling stakes in two property funds from Australian bank Macquarie for US$189 million. The price valued the real estate investment trusts, which own a stretch of shops along Singapore's Orchard Road, at a bargain 49% of net asset value. A month later, Yeoh announced he was combing through other prospective acquisitions.
His corporate governance record is impressive, too. Unlike many Asian tycoons, Yeoh has avoided the myriad of cross-ownerships and related party transactions that so frustrate investors.
Amongst Asias best executives 2008 were Grant King, Managing Director of Origin Energy in Australia, Zhu Min, Executive Vice-President of Bank of China, Vincent Cheng, Chairman of HSBC in Hong Kong, Liew Mun Leong, CEO of CapitaLand in Singapore, Tadashi Yanai, Chairman & CEO of Fast Retailingin Japan, Om Prakash Bhatt, Chairman of State Bank of India, Nam Yong, CEO of LG Electronics in Korea, Morris Chang, Chairman of TSMC in Taiwan, Manuel Pangilinan, Chairman of PLDT in The Philippines, Khalid Hashim, Managing Director of Precious Shipping in Thailand and Graeme Pitkethly, CFO of Unilever Indonesia.
