Tensions arise as reports continue to annoy Parkway

Parkway expresses disapproval on articles in Business Times, Today and The Straits Times dated 7 July 2010.

Nominating Commitee Chairman, Chang See Hiang, said on Wednesday that the company does not agree with the headline of the article “Parkway distances itself from director” in Straits Times, and the statement in The Business Times saying “Parkway deems Seow 'not independent' which implies Richard Seow, newly appointed independent director, is unfit for the role.

“The announcement by the Nominating Committee yesterday merely re-classified Mr Richard Seow’s independent director status. We wish to re-iterate that Mr Richard Seow had always in the past exercised his independent business judgement with a view to the best interest of the Company.”

Parkway said Mr Richard Seow is a valued and integral member of the Board and that it sees no reason why Seow will not be able to continue to act in the best interest of all shareholders in his capacity as a director of the Company going forward.

The announcement also pointed to the article in Today published on 7 July under the article titled “Committee: Seow shouldn’t be Parkway ID” and in Channelnewsasia.com dated 6 July under the article titled “Parkway nominating committee defines Richard Seow’s independent director status.”

“In the article in Today, it was stated that '…Richard Seow should not be considered an independent director (ID) in relation to the partial offer by Malaysia’s state investment arm Khazanah' and in the article in Channelnewsasia.com, it was stated that '… Richard Seow should not be considered an independent director of the company in the partial offer for the firm made by Malaysia’s Khazanah,'” the announcement said.

Parkway said the announcement made by the Nomination Committee was not related to any offer for Parkway and that Mr Richard Seow considered himself non-independent for the purpose of the Partial Offer, later on confirmed by the Securities Industry Council.