Lim Hwee Hua, Independent Director
- Profile
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Lim Hwee Hua was elected as an Independent Director of Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. (NPHD) in March 2022.
She held several important positions of the Parliament and ministerial positions after being elected to the Parliament of Singapore. Prior to joining the Singapore Cabinet, she served as Managing Director at an investment company owned by the Singapore Government, where she conducted restructuring and sat on the boards of key investee companies, and established strategic relations with key foreign counterparts. She currently engages in private equity and financial activity.
Based on her broad network and her abundant insight and experience in investment and stewardship, she has fulfilled her responsibilities by providing pertinent advice on business strategy and execution relating to investment projects while bringing up new propositions at the Board of Directors meetings.
Please tell us about your strengths and skills.
Since my appointment as an Independent Director of Nippon Paint Holdings Co., Ltd. (NPHD) in March 2022, I have contributed actively to board discussions, especially on strategy, financial and regulatory matters and the China/South-east Asian markets. To do this, I have drawn on my experience in leadership positions in both the public and private sectors.
My familiarity with how governments tend to behave during crises has enabled me to provide guidance for our operations in the China market, in terms of ensuring that responses to challenges were robust and financially manageable. My experience with multinational operations and the constant transformation of businesses, has also been helpful in governance oversight and consistency in quality of operations, all with the aim of maximizing shareholder value.
Drawing on my experience with financial markets, including mergers and acquisitions, I have paid close attention to the proper use of capital, beginning with the understanding of the various sources and cost of each source, in order to arrive at an optimal capital structure. Equally important would be human capital, which I hope to help executive side shape policies on for the year ahead. For the overall strategy of assembling high quality and promising assets to be successful, the various businesses must continue to be led by capable management teams. This would necessitate succession planning, talent identification and the provision of career path training/experience, elements of which I had contributed substantially in previous/current roles, so I believe I can provide truly effective advice.
What are the strengths and attractiveness as well as the challenges facing NPHD, which is dedicated to MSV as its sole mission?
NPHD is on an exciting growth path, in its quest to assemble high quality assets which can potentially play on direct domain skills (paint and adjacencies) or indirect strategic management expertise (market knowledge or leadership advantages). NPHD will continue to identify promising partner companies, led by strong management teams, in order to realize accretive growth.
In order for NPHD to be a successful Asset Assembler, assessment of M&A opportunities, paying careful attention to not just financial viability but also strength of leadership, will continue to be most crucial. I aim to support Management fully for this process.
Equally important is the need for there to be a balance between allowing sufficient independence of Partner Companies and drawing on the advantages of being part of the Nippon Paint Group. Ultimately, understanding the different cultures and flagging out potential issues would continue to be important. Trust is key.
Apart from M&A, existing businesses would have to be re-positioned or digitalized where necessary. I will provide insights on the valuation of the various businesses, especially of the intangible assets.
I intend to contribute fully to NPHD’s exciting journey towards maximizing shareholder value.