Dilhan Pillay to take over as Temasek’s CEO as Ho Ching is set to retire

Singapore government-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings announced that Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara will succeed Ho Ching as its executive director and CEO by October 1 this year.

Ho, who is set to retire, will step down from its board on the same date. Sandrasegara will concurrently serve as chief executive officer of Temasek International.

Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara / Photo credit: Temasek Holdings

Ho, the wife of Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, joined Temasek in 2002 as executive director and was appointed as CEO in 2014. She started her career as an engineer and served as president and CEO of Singapore Technologies Group before joining Temasek.

Meanwhile, Sandrasegara joined Temasek in 2010 and has played several roles in the firm, including a two-year stint as head of Americas region. He was appointed as CEO of Temasek International in 2019 and has been responsible for managing the company’s investment and portfolio activities.

Prior to this, he was the managing partner at law firm WongPartnership. He has over 20 years of legal experience, mainly focusing on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and corporate law, according to the firm’s website.

“As CEO of Temasek Holdings, Dilhan will have the responsibility for the stewardship role of Temasek, particularly in respect of Temasek’s constitutional responsibilities to safeguard its own past reserves, as a Fifth Schedule entity,” Temasek Holdings’ chairman, Lim Boon Heng said in a statement.

For the financial year that ended March 2020, Temasek Holdings reported that the net value of its portfolio companies fell for the first time since 2016 as the global market was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Its net portfolio value fell to US$223.7 billion during the period, decreasing by around 2.2% from the previous year.