George Town, Cayman Islands - July 9, 2012, George Town, Cayman Islands - Keppel Corporation, an investment holding and management company, announced the acquisition of KrisEnergy and appointment of Choo Chiau Beng and Loh Chin Hua to KrisEnergy's board as non-executive directors.
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Mr. Choo is the Chairman of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, Keppel Land Limited and Keppel Energy Pte Ltd. He is also a director of k1 Ventures Limited. He started his career with Keppel Shipyard as a Ship Repair Management Trainee in 1971 and was appointed Executive Director of Singapore Slipway in 1973.
In 1975, when Keppel set up its shipyard in the Philippines, Mr. Choo was posted there to assume the position of Executive Vice President and CEO of the company for a period of four years. He joined Keppel FELS (formerly Far East Levingston Shipbuilding Ltd) in 1980 as Assistant General Manager and was appointed as director to the board. He was promoted to Deputy Managing Director in November 1981 and to Managing Director in March 1983. In 1994, he was appointed Deputy Chairman and in 1997, Chairman of the company.
Mr. Choo is a Board Member of Energy Studies Institute, a Board and Council Member of American Bureau of Shipping and the Chairman of Det Norske Veritas South East Asia Committee. He is a member of the American Bureau of Shipping’s Southeast Asia Regional Committee, Special Committee on Mobile Offshore Drilling Units and Singapore University of Technology and Design’s Board of Trustee.
Mr. Choo was conferred the Public Service Star Award (BBM) in August 2004, The Meritorious Service Award in 2008 and The NTUC Medal of Commendation (Gold) Award in May 2007.
Mr. Hua, a non-independent, non-executive director of Keppel Land and Chairman of Alpha Investment Partners Limited (Alpha), the real estate fund management arm of Keppel Land, has more than 25 years of experience in real estate investing and funds management spanning the US, Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining Alpha, Mr. Hua was Managing Director at Prudential Investment Management Inc. where he led its Asian real estate fund management business. He was responsible for overseeing all investment and asset management activities for the real estate funds managed out of Asia.
Mr. Hua started his career in real estate investment with the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC). He has held appointments in the San Francisco office and was head of the European real estate group in London before returning to head the Asian real estate group at GIC. Mr. Hua holds directorship in several companies within the Keppel Group including Keppel Shipyard Limited, Keppel FELS Limited, Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd, Keppel Land China Limited as well as various fund companies and subsidiaries. ■