NOL

I just read recently that Ng Yat Chung is slated to take over from Ron Widdows as CEO of NOL later part of the year. Mr Ng is from Temasek but I believe he has spent the most part of his working life in the SAF. In fact he was CDF and left SAF in 2007. I remember he gave a press interview soon after he joined Temsasek as MD for Portfolio Management during the Global Financial Crisis. Then, he defended the the investment by Temasek into Merrill Lynch by saying that the "jury is still out" when the value of the orginal investment plunged. Temasek subsequently divested all the holding in BOA (when Merrill Lynch was acquired by BOA) in the early part of 2009 at a substantial loss.

Without a deep understanding of the container business and the necessary commercial background, I find it a very awkward appointment. The shipping container business is highly cyclical and he may be just lucky to catch a "good" wind. Other than that, I do not forsee how he can bring NOL to the next stage.

Luckily, I have divested all my NOL shares months ago.