Six appointments, from quality release to group chief executive

Mandate

Grow a family-owned regional manufacturer into a company that could list or take in a long-term investor, and prepare the family to own it without managing it.

Outcomes

• Grew revenue from S$468 million in 2018 to S$812 million in 2025, and EBITDA from S$58 million to S$118 million.
• Acquired 92 per cent of PT Sindhara Farmasi at an enterprise value of S$365 million; its revenue rose from S$188 million to S$236 million by 2025.
• Closed the Jurong plant and transferred 68 products to Pasir Gudang for S$21 million, cutting the unit cost of liquids and creams by 19 per cent.
• Adopted a full-cost floor for public bids after Vietnam's 2021 round; Vietnam revenue reached S$142 million in 2025.
• Reduced net debt from 2.9 times EBITDA in December 2022 to 1.8 times in December 2025.

Decisions in context

I became group chief executive in April 2019, after three years as chief operating officer, under a succession plan agreed between the founder and Calderwick Capital. I report to the board through its chairman, Seah Kim Hock, who became non-executive in October 2021, and I sit on it as an executive director. My nine direct reports lead the commercial clusters, manufacturing, quality, regulatory affairs, finance, people and the consumer-health division. The agenda followed from one board question: could Lumaren one day list or bring in a long-term investor? Answering yes meant scale in Indonesia, which the Sindhara acquisition supplied; a cheaper and more defensible plant network, which meant closing Jurong; a tender policy that would survive an investor's scrutiny; and family governance that would outlast the founder. Revenue grew from S$468 million in 2018 to S$812 million in 2025, and the board is now deciding how Calderwick's stake should be realised.

Reason for the move

Current role. Not seeking an executive move; would consider one independent directorship with the board's consent.

Mandate

Integrate the sixty brands bought from Vauclere, professionalise supply and regulatory work, and prepare to succeed the founder as chief executive.

Outcomes

• Moved the sixty acquired brands' registrations to Lumaren entities in six countries within twenty-two months, with no stock-out.
• Raised on-time, in-full delivery to public buyers from 84 to 96 per cent.
• Brought Binh Duong up to the manufacturing standard that admits its products to the higher quality groups in Vietnamese hospital tenders.
• Worked with the founder through Calderwick Capital's S$190 million investment for 30 per cent in 2017.

Decisions in context

I joined Lumaren in January 2016 as chief operating officer, reporting to Seah Kim Hock, who was then both executive chairman and chief executive. The company had just bought sixty mature brands from Vauclere, and my first task was to move their registrations to Lumaren entities in six countries without interrupting supply: more than 300 transfer filings, completed in twenty-two months. I was responsible for the plants at Jurong, Pasir Gudang and Binh Duong and for supply chain, procurement and regulatory affairs, about 2,400 people in all. We raised on-time, in-full delivery to public buyers from 84 to 96 per cent, and invested in Binh Duong so that its products could compete in the upper quality groups of Vietnamese hospital tenders. In 2017 I worked alongside the founder as Calderwick Capital invested S$190 million for 30 per cent, and in July 2018 the board named me chief executive designate.

Reason for the move

Appointed group chief executive in April 2019 under the agreed succession plan.

Mandate

Restore growth to off-patent brands in six countries and decide which belonged in the group's future portfolio.

Outcomes

• Grew regional revenue from S$470 million in 2011 to S$540 million in 2015, before the brand divestment.
• Moved low-volume brands in Thailand and the Philippines to distributor partnerships, saving S$14 million a year in cost to serve.
• Negotiated the sale of sixty mature brands to Lumaren for S$140 million, closed in July 2015.
• Set up a regional tender office that priced every public bid against one cost model.

Decisions in context

For four and a half years I ran Vauclere's established-medicines business across Southeast Asia from Singapore, with five country managers among my seven direct reports and a regional P&L that reached S$540 million in 2015. The brands were off patent and the group's investment was moving to newer medicines, so the job combined growth with honest pruning. We moved low-volume brands in Thailand and the Philippines from direct hospital selling to distributor partnerships, saving S$14 million a year in cost to serve, and built a regional tender office that priced every public bid against one cost model. In 2014 I took a proposal to the group's Asia-Pacific portfolio committee to sell sixty mature brands, and I then negotiated their sale to Lumaren for S$140 million. When the group folded established medicines into a global unit run from Europe at the end of 2015, the regional role ended and I accepted Lumaren's offer.

Reason for the move

The group moved established medicines into a global unit run from Europe, ending the regional role; Lumaren's founder then offered me the chief operating officer's post with a path to chief executive.

Mandate

Build a business that could compete in public-hospital tenders and in the growing private pharmacy channel.

Outcomes

• Grew revenue from US$38 million to US$71 million in four years.
• Raised the private-pharmacy share of revenue from 22 to 41 per cent.
• Created a tender desk recording every hospital award, winning price and delivery record.
• Opened the Hanoi branch in 2008.

Decisions in context

Ho Chi Minh City gave me my first profit-and-loss responsibility. Vauclere's Vietnam business sold prescription medicines through licensed local importers and distributors, and in 2006 about three-quarters of its US$38 million revenue came from public-hospital tenders. I reported to the regional general manager and led 210 people, including 150 medical representatives. I built a tender desk that recorded every hospital award, the winning price and the winner's later delivery record, and it taught me more about the market than any research report. We opened a Hanoi branch in 2008 and invested in pharmacy coverage across the southern provinces, raising the private-channel share of revenue from 22 to 41 per cent and making the business less dependent on any one procurement round. Revenue reached US$71 million in 2010. In mid-2011 I was asked to run the regional established-medicines unit from Singapore.

Reason for the move

Promoted to run the Southeast Asian established-medicines unit.

Mandate

Bring registration across the region onto one plan and one evidence standard.

Outcomes

• Cut the median time from submission to approval for new generics and line extensions from 26 to 17 months across five markets.
• Prepared files and staff for the ASEAN common dossier format as member states adopted it.
• Reduced missed or late registration renewals from 31 a year to three.

Decisions in context

I moved to Vauclere's Singapore regional office in September 2001 as regulatory affairs manager and became head of regulatory affairs for Southeast Asia in 2004. By 2007 the team numbered 34 across six countries and maintained more than 900 registrations. Before then each affiliate had filed on its own timetable, and renewals were sometimes missed. We built one regional filing plan, a shared library of core documents and a pre-submission review that reduced regulators' queries, and the median time from submission to approval for new generics and line extensions fell from 26 to 17 months across five markets. We also prepared our files and people for the ASEAN common dossier format as member states adopted it, and missed or late renewals fell from 31 a year to three. I finished my evening MBA in 2005. I wanted commercial responsibility next, and Vauclere offered me Vietnam.

Reason for the move

Wanted commercial responsibility; offered the Vietnam country role.

Mandate

Review batch records and support release, then own every registration filing in Malaysia and the export markets.

Outcomes

• Reviewed and prepared release documentation for about 1,600 batches a year.
• Built the company's first registration files for Vietnam and the Philippines, adding 38 export products.
• Halved the queries regulators returned on new files by introducing a pre-submission checklist.

Decisions in context

Benaroh Pharmaceuticals was a family-owned generics maker in Penang with about 820 employees, making tablets, capsules and syrups for Malaysia and five export markets. I joined in July 1994 as a quality assurance pharmacist, reviewing batch records and preparing release documentation, about 1,600 batches a year, for the senior pharmacist who authorised each one. In 1997 the managing director moved me into registration because the company wanted to grow its exports, and I became regulatory affairs manager, with a team of seven by 2001. I built Benaroh's first files for Vietnam and the Philippines, which added 38 export products, and introduced a pre-submission checklist that halved the queries regulators sent back on new files. Working in a first-generation family company taught me how much depends on the founder's attention, and how little is written down. I left in 2001 to work across several countries at a larger company.

Reason for the move

Wanted regional regulatory responsibility across several countries at a larger company.