Accountant Nicky Tan paid $3m for brokering Temasek investment
After much to-ing and fro-ing, the fee for accountant Nicky Tan's role in getting Temasek Holdings to invest $900 million for a 14.9 per cent stake in Fraser & Neave has been settled at $3 million.
Mr Tan, who is on F&N's board and received $99,000 in director's fees, is said to have earlier billed $5 million for his work but several other F&N board members reportedly felt that the figure was too high. They reportedly offered to pay $1.25 million instead, which Mr Tan refused.
The final fee for Mr Tan was disclosed in F&N's latest annual report which was released this week.
The report also showed that former deputy chairman and chief executive Han Cheng Fong, who quit suddenly last October, was given a parting gift of $5.05 million in addition to his remuneration of $3.8 million.
Dr Han, who has since joined property tycoon Ng Teng Fong's Hong Kong- based Sino Land, however, lost out on nearly $1 million worth of gains on share options when he quit.
Chairman Lee Hsien Yang, who is currently also the company's caretaker pending the appointment of a new CEO, has also decided to leave the fee package for the board to shareholders to decide at the company's annual general meeting on Jan 31.
The company has proposed that the chairman be paid $1.25 million compared with $250,000 now. Mr Lee has decided to incorporate the $1 million fee he now gets into the chairman's package. The former SingTel head honcho also received another $150,000 in his capacity as non-executive chairman of F&N's property arm, Frasers Centrepoint.
The report also showed that former chairman Michael Fam, who retired on Oct 14 after 24 years with the group, received $2.33 million of which 77 per cent was his salary.
Group company secretary Anthony Cheong, who will be relinquishing his board seat to make way for more independent directors, was paid nearly $1.8 million, comprising salary of 31 per cent, 28 per cent in bonuses and 36.5 per cent in long-term incentives (largely share options).
Asia Pacific Breweries CEO Koh Poh Tiong was paid $3.77 million in 2007 - 32 per cent of which was salary, 62.5 per cent came by way of bonuses and 4.4 per cent in long-term incentives. F&N effectively owns 39 per cent of APB.
Centrepoint CEO Lim Ee Seng got $2.98 million of which 33.4 per cent was salary, 46.5 per cent was a bonus and 19.5 per cent was a long-term incentive.
The report also revealed some other nuggets, including the purchase of three condominium units at St Thomas Suites by director Stephen Lee and/or his associates for $21.98 million, and two units at the same condo by Nicky Tan and/or his associates for $22.59 million. Mr Lee also bought a unit at Soleil@Sinaran for $2.22 million. Dr Han and/or his associates bought two units at the same condo for $3.85 million.
F&N, which reported a 28 per cent increase in net earnings to a record $378 million on a 25 per cent jump in turnover to $4.7 billion for the financial year ended Sept 30, 2007, disclosed that it had unutilised tax losses carried forward of about $351.59 million last year compared with $444.55 million the previous year. Just over $200 million was the result of writedowns by the Chinese arm of Frasers Properties.
In his maiden annual report statement, chairman Lee thinks the outlook for the current financial year, is fraught with uncertainties arising from the US sub-prime mortgage issue and the high price of crude oil.
'The group will need to address the challenges of more cautious consumer spending and higher costs of doing business. However, economic growth in Asia is expected to continue albeit at a slower rate,' he said.
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