KUALA LUMPUR: George Kent (Malaysia) Bhd today announced the appointment of Sime Darby Bhd's former group chief strategy officer Datuk Thomas Leong Yew Hong as its director for strategy & investments.
He will be joining George Kent effective August 1, 2024.
Business Times today reported that Leong would be joining George Kent as its director of strategy and investments.
George Kent however clarified that Leong will not be a member of the company's board.
The company said as director, strategy & investments, Leong will work closely with major shareholder Tan Sri Tan Kay Hock, the executive chairman of George Kent, on long term strategies, business development, investments including mergers and acquisitions for the group.
He will also be working on opportunities in complementary businesses in water infrastructure and rail transportation, which hitherto have been unexplored.
Leong's role includes looking at opportunities in renewable energy, high technology, artificial intelligence and data centre solutions, all these collectively will take George Kent into areas which are "businesses of the future", diversifying away from its traditional businesses.
George Kent to date has established itself as one of the largest system integrators in rail transportation, having contributed to the expansion of Malaysia's urban rail networks projects, including the Ampang LRT line extension, the MRT2 and the LRT3 (which George Kent exited from in September 2021).
George Kent closed the morning trading session unchanged at 46.5 sen a share, giving it a market capitalisation of RM261.9 million.