KUALA LUMPUR: DRB-HICOM Bhd, one of the country’s largest conglomerates, yesterday announced key management changes to beef up its automotive, defence and aviation divisions.
The biggest change is the secondment of its group finance and corporate chief operating officer (COO) Datuk Ahmad Fuaad Mohd Kenali as Proton Holdings Bhd’s new chief executive officer and executive director effective April 1.
Ahmad Fuaad, who was chief financial officer of Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd prior to joining the group, will replace Datuk Abdul Harith Abdullah.
Harith will now lead DRB-HICOM’s automotive distribution and defence group COO.
Group automotive distribution and manufacturing COO Datuk Md Radzaif Mohamed will be seconded to Proton as deputy chief executive officer.
Other movements involved senior officers of its subsidiaries HICOM Automotive Manufacturers (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd and Composites Technology Research Malaysia Sdn Bhd (CTRM).
The internal reorganisation comes barely a month after Datuk Seri Syed Faisal Albar assumed overall management responsibility and control of the DRB-HICOM group on March 1.
He succeeded Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil as DRB-HICOM group managing director who retired on January 20. Khamil, who was group MD from March 1 2006, was recently named as group chairman.
The reorganisation comes at a time Proton is facing one of its toughest periods.
According to the Malaysian Automotive Association, Proton’s new vehicle sales dropped 28 per cent to 5,947 units in February, from 8,254 units a year ago.
The national carmaker had announced a price
rise for its vehicles effective February 15, which would
see an increase of RM312 to a maximum of RM2,021 depending on model variants.
Syed Faisal said the movement of internal talents was consistent with its policy to constantly develop capabilities within the DRB-HICOM group of companies.
This would allow the group to maintain fresh perspectives to steer it under the current challenging and competitive business environment, he said in a statement yesterday.
Elaborating on the reorganisation, the group said HICOM Automotive COO Shamsuddin Mohd Yusof wais CTRM COO effective March 14.
HICOM Automotive general manager Ismail Pandak was appointed
as its acting COO, also effective March 14.