A major reshuffle of the board of directors at Singapore liner company Pacific International Lines (PIL) has seen key members of the Teo family, its former owners, move out.

The change at the top comes just weeks after PIL won creditor approval for a $750m financial restructuring. The deal saw Heliconia Capital Management, a subsidiary of state-owned investment company Temasek, take control of the company from the Teo family.

The Teo family’s share of the company was diluted to 15% as part of the restructuring.

PIL said it is strengthening its board room and "moving forward".

There are only two survivors of the boardroom shake-up — current executive chairman SS Teo and deputy chairman Peter Chang.

But out go other Teo family members: executive directors Teng Seng Teo, Tony Teo and Choo Wee Teo, and non-executive director Lisa Teo.

Also departing are deputy managing director Chor Kee Tan and executive directors Yvonne Lim and Wee Keng Kwa.

The two new key executive appointments to the board are executive directors Lars Kastrup and Chee Yen Gan.

Kastrup's appointment marks a re-emergence for the boxship industry executive after he left his position as APL chief executive in July 2019, before the company was taken over by France's CMA CGM.

Prior to working at APL, he was executive vice president assets at CMA CGM, heading up terminals, ships and logistics. He started working with CMA CGM in 2007. Before then he was with AP Moller-Maersk.

Gan was a director at Fullerton Financial Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings.

Kastrup and Gan have been working with PIL over the past six months.

Decision maker

Under the new board, SS Teo is still expected to be the main decision maker with Kastrup, Gan and Chang also serving as influential figures.

The other new appointments to the PIL board are non-executive positions. They are Ng Kee Choe, a former director at Fullerton Financial Holdings; Chandra Das, former ambassador to the Singapore government; Yap Chee Keong, a former chief financial officer at Singapore Power; and Andrew Lim, partner at Singapore law firm Allen & Gledhill.

Pacific International Lines chairman and managing director SS Teo will remain head of the company board of directors. Photo: PIL

One change from a diversity point of view is that the PIL board is now all male following the departure of Yvonne Lim and Lisa Teo.

Change had been on the cards at PIL since its financial restructuring.

The completion and successful implementation of our restructuring is a chance for renewal in PIL," said SS Teo after the deal won creditor approval.

"We will continue to improve our business operations, deleverage the balance sheet and reinvent ourselves as we adapt to the ever-changing market."