KUALA LUMPUR: Country Heights Holdings Bhd's founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew is stepping down by January 1 next year to make way for a new management to reposition the group as a digital smart city enabler and integrated wellness ecosystems.
Lee intends to focus on his private and charitable ventures including Labuan-licenced Golden Touch Investment Bank that will use the latest blockchain technologies for security token offerings (STO).
STO is a process whereby an investor exchanges money for coins or tokens that represent his investment.
"I am going to take leave from Country Heights and hand over all the business to the new team of directors and I will concentrate on cryptocurrency.
"I have full confidence in the newly-appointed management team to transform our brick and mortar business into a digital enabled ecosystem which will unearth the value of our assets," Lee told a press conference after Country Height's annual general meeting today.
He will now assume the role of founder and patron of the Country Height Group.
The group's transformation has brought in several new appointments including Datuk Jared Lim as its new managing director , Kevin Chen (financial director), Ryan Xu (chief technology director) and Gerard Lim (independent director).
Lee said the planned "Horse Currency" issuance would now be undertaken through his private and charitable ventures, including Golden Touch.
In September 2018, Country Heights had planned to issue an initial coin offering (ICO) with its own cryptocurrency, "Horse Currency".
"I have received all the approvals (from the Securities Commission) already. In fact my investment bank is in operation now.
"Instead of issuing the cryptocurrencies, now Country Heights Holdings will accept the cryptocurrencies," said Lee.
Meanwhile, managing director Lim said Country Heights was developing financial infrastructure within Mines Resort City for the deployment of its selected cryptocurrency payment with an allocation of RM50 million.
He said Country Heights would be the first listed on Bursa Malaysia to accept selected cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum for purchase of the company's goods and services.
"We intend to do this within the next six to 12 months," Lim said.
The digital transformation plan will see synergies between Country Heights and technology partners including Huawei Malaysia, Touch Point International and Coloinstar Capital.
Lim said the technology partnership agreements were expected to be entered into before the end of the year.
"The partnership with Huawei will focus on the infrastructure development of Mines Wellness City via the provision of 5G and WiFi 6 for the township by year-end.
"Mines Wellness City will be Malaysia's first fully WiFi 6 and 5G-enabled coverage (area)," he said.
Country Heights is planning to expand the coverage to other townships and connect its wellness business with the properties within its township.
"When people buy our properties, for example, in The Mines, we want to make sure that they are connected to the township so they are buying the whole township. That is why we started with The Mines first," he added.