ASTI Holdings chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Loh Soon Gnee has been dismissed by the company after more than 8 years as chief, amid an ongoing retrenchment exercise.

 

He will be with the company till Dec 31 this year. Anthony Loh, Asti' s chief financial officer, will be appointed as the acting CEO in the meantime. Michael Loh will continue to act as chairman.

 

The company-wide retrenchment exercise comes as the group looks to exit the SGX financial watch-list and remain afloat " during this difficult period" , Asti said in a bourse filing on Wednesday (Dec 22). It added that the group has been negatively impacted by the pandemic, as well as by the on-going geo-political tensions between China and the United States.

 

Asti was placed on the watch-list in July 2019 because it had pre-tax losses for its 3 most recently completed consecutive financial years, and failed to maintain an average daily market capitalisation of at least S$40 million over the last 6 months.

 

Michael Loh previously tried to resign in April 2019, but withdrew his resignation about a year later after the company requested for him to lead it amid " challenging times" caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Mainboard-listed company had been unable to find a replacement for Loh.

 

As part of his termination, Loh is contractually entitled to an aggregate of S$2 million. The board has decided to pay him S$1.4 million instead.