Mapletree Industrial Trust CEO Tham Kuo Wei Leaving Post in July

The longtime CEO of Mapletree Industrial Trust’s manager is stepping down, as Singapore’s Mapletree Investments continues to shake up the leadership at its sponsored REITs.

Tham Kuo Wei, MIT’s boss of more than 13 years, will relinquish his roles as chief executive and executive director on 22 July, according to a Thursday announcement. He will transfer to Mapletree Investments to assume new responsibilities with the Temasek Holdings-controlled sponsor.

“The board would like to thank Mr Tham for his leadership and valuable contributions to MIT since its IPO in October 2010, for which he was instrumental in the listing of MIT,” the manager said.

Succeeding Tham in both posts is Lily Ler, who has served as chief financial officer at MIT since 2011. Ler’s replacement as CFO is Khoo Geng Foong, currently head of treasury at Mapletree Logistics Trust’s manager, which recently announced its own reshuffle at the top.

Ready to Succeed

As CFO, Ler has overseen financial reporting, budgeting, treasury and taxation matters at MIT.

After joining Mapletree in 2001, Ler held various roles including vice president for treasury. In 2009, Ler became head of treasury and investor relations at Mapletree Logistics Trust, where she led MLT’s treasury team in treasury risk management, debt and capital management.

Before Mapletree, Ler worked at Asia Food & Properties Ltd for four years and as an external auditor with Deloitte & Touche in Singapore for three years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from Nanyang Technological University.

“Ms Ler has been central in the planning and execution of MIT’s growth strategy through the years,” the manager said. “She was instrumental in maintaining a flexible capital management strategy to support MIT’s expansion plans.”

MLT Transition

At stablemate MLT, the manager last week tapped the REIT’s head of investment, Jean Kam, to serve as the next CEO.

Kam succeeds Ng Kiat, who is stepping down on 22 July to assume new responsibilities at Mapletree. Ng is also resigning as executive director, with Kam set to fill the role as she joins the MLT board.

The changing of the guard comes after the $9.8 billion trust posted a 2.5 percent year-on-year drop in distribution per unit for the fourth quarter, as high interest costs and weak regional currencies continued to hurt financial performance.