Noorazman Abd Aziz steps down as UEM Sunrise's chair, to be replaced by Khazanah's Hisham Hamdan

• Datuk Mohamad Hisham Hamdan, 55,was formerly chairman of the board of UDA Holdings Bhd and BBCC Development Sdn Bhd, the developer of Bukit Bintang City Centre located within the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 20): Datuk Noorazman Abd Aziz is resigning from his post as chairman of UEM Sunrise Bhd from July 1, after he was redesignated to chairman of CTOS Digital Bhd on May 26.

According to the property developer’s bourse filing on Tuesday (June 20), UEM Sunrise cited the reason for the resignation of the 67-year-old as “planned retirement”.

Replacing Noorazman as UEM Sunrise’s new chairman is Datuk Mohamad Hisham Hamdan, who is the current executive director of investments at Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

“Prior to joining Khazanah in April 2011, he (Hisham Hamdan) has served Sime Darby Bhd in various senior capacities since 2004, covering strategy and business development, healthcare, energy and utilities,” UEM Sunrise said.

The group said that Hisham, 55, was formerly chairman of the board of UDA Holdings Bhd and BBCC Development Sdn Bhd, the developer of Bukit Bintang City Centre located within the Golden Triangle of Kuala Lumpur.

“He has previously served on the board of Iskandar Investment Bhd, Sunway Iskandar Sdn Bhd and Southern Marina Development Sdn Bhd. He was also a member of the board and investment committee of ValueCap Sdn Bhd, an investment house that was equally-owned by Khazanah, Permodalan Nasional Bhd and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan)(KWAP),” it added.

Noorazman, who has vast experience in international finance, banking and financial markets including treasury and capital markets, first joined UEM Sunrise as non-executive director on Oct 1, 2018. He was later redesignated to chairman on Aug 13, 2020.

He was previously an executive director of investments at Khazanah as well as managing director of a Khazanah investee company Fajr Capital Ltd. He also had stints at Citigroup, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange and Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority.

“Noorazman has been instrumental in spearheading the group’s three-phase strategic turnaround plan comprising ‘triage’, ‘stabilise’ and ‘sustain’, among other significant targets and sustainable initiatives,” UEM Sunrise said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

“He led UEM Sunrise during the economic uncertainty wrought by the Covid-19 crisis, in which he aided the group in returning to the black for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022). To date, UEM Sunrise’s gross profit margin rose to 44% in the 1QFY2023 compared with 24% in the 1QFY2022, with profit after tax and non-controlling interests of RM15.4 million for 1QFY2023.”

In FY2022, UEM Sunrise posted a net profit of RM80.5 million, compared with a net loss of RM214.3 million in FY2021 and RM278.82 million in FY2020.

On Tuesday, UEM Sunrise also announced the resignation of non-independent director Effizal Faiz Zulkifly, 43, due to a process of rotation based on the directive of Khazanah, which is a substantial shareholder of UEM Sunrise. Effizal joined UEM Sunrise’s board on Feb 24, 2020.

“Effizal has served as a member of the board of development committee of UEM Sunrise. He played a pivotal role in the value creation of numerous key developments such as macro-townships, high-rise residential and integrated developments in the group during his tenure,” UEM Sunrise said.

Meanwhile, Khazanah Nasional’s senior vice president of investments Reagan Chan Chung Cheng has been appointed as non-independent director at UEM Sunrise.

The 41-year-old Chan, who joined Khazanah Nasional in 2012, is currently overseeing its real assets and property portfolio, having previously covered inter alia Iskandar Malaysia and technology portfolios of Khazanah.

The boardroom changes at UEM Sunrise are effective from July 1.

The share price of UEM Sunrise closed half a sen or 1.92% higher to 26.5 sen on Tuesday, valuing the group at RM1.34 billion.