Who is george quek

This also comes as BreadTalk sank into the red for its fiscal fourth quarter and , according to its financial statements released late on Monday night. In a regulatory filing, BreadTalk said the offer is an attractive opportunity for shareholders to exit their investment in the shares at a premium without incurring brokerage and other trading costs.

The offeror believes that privatising BreadTalk will give the company more flexibility to address challenges it is facing, manage the business and optimise the use of BreadTalk's management and resources. If delisted from the Singapore Exchange SGX , BreadTalk will also be able to save on expenses and costs relating to the maintenance of a listed status and channel these resources to its business operations. Furthermore, the company has not carried out any exercise to raise equity capital on the SGX in the last 10 years.

It is unlikely to require access to Singapore equity capital markets to finance its operations in the foreseeable future, seeing as it has other available funding sources such as bank borrowings, BreadTalk said. The offer is conditional on the offeror receiving valid acceptances which will result in the offeror and concert parties holding more than 90 per cent of the total number of shares in issue as at the offer's close.

Each of Dr Quek, Ms Lee, Square Investment an investment vehicle jointly owned by Dr Quek and Ms Lee and Primacy Investment a subsidiary of Minor International has given an irrevocable undertaking to tender all the shares they hold in acceptance of the offer.

They will also reinvest the consideration due to them to subscribe for new shares in the offeror. As at Feb 24, these undertaking shareholders collectively own about The two began dating in and got married in The group now has over 1, retail stores open over 17 markets, with popular subsidiaries like Toast Box, Din Tai Fung and Food Republic under its belt.

With close to 50 years in a romantic and corporate relationship, the BreadTalk power couple is still going strong. After David left his stable job as a secondary school teacher, the aspiring entrepreneur started making ice cream with nothing more than equipment ordered off the net.

Now, Udders has over employees at its last headcount, and is eyeing Indonesia as the next market for expansion, planning to hit 10 major cities over the next three years. The couple has even launched another ice cream label, Nuude Ice Cream, which is 35 per cent lower in calories, sugars and fats.

Anna later married Andrew in and was the first to quit her full-time job as an embryologist to set up the Soup Spoon. The latter two soon followed, forming the central team heading the operations of the firm. It was at the bar that Howard first met his wife Hui Nan, who worked as a lawyer at a boutique intellectual property law firm near the joint. Launched by another pair of married couples, the idea for Aloha Poke first came about after the group went vacationing in Hawaii.

Finding no alternatives upon their return to Singapore, the group jointly launched the first Aloha Poke outlet on Amoy Street, which eventually grew into three outlets spanning Marina Bay, Jewel Changi and Westgate. Stay updated with Vulcan Post weekly curated news and updates. VP Label. Henry Chu To drink this tea, there's a milk crown on top, so we usually take out the lid and if you want a little bit more milk, you just have to tilt it slowly.

If you want a little bit more tea below, you just have to tilt at a bigger angle so you can get that very good mix of milk crown and the tea. C: So bringing Nayuki in is basically your decision. Because you spearheaded the move, correct George?

He was the one who brought it in. H: Well, I think due to the nature of my job, I travel a lot, China being one market. I saw how this brand grew in China.

It was at a speed which I thought was incredible. Today, I think they have stores in more than 20 cities in China. In Singapore, we have a lot of bubble tea, but we don't have good fruit tea. That's the reason why I decided to bring this brand to this part of the world. H: Well, I think over the last two years I brought brands not just into Singapore.

But we also brought a Singapore brand, Song Fa, out to China. Today, we have opened 4 stores in a year and it's doing very well. And it is doing so well that we are going to open in our Thailand market very soon.

We will be opening our very first Wu Pao Chun. This is a discussion that Mr Quek has personally spearheaded. We have opened one store in Shanghai and we will be opening our very first Wu Pao Chun store in Capitol in July this year. H: Well, I think George acts as the consultant to me. I make the decision. I'm blessed that he gives me that autonomy to make that decision.

But of course as the figurehead and founder of the Group, usually his presence helps in the whole negotiation. So when he's there to help me with the negotiation, usually it works out. How can he further build up your business? He travels to a lot of cities. So I trust his judgment regarding whether a certain brand can be successful in other parts of the world. But he moves very fast, he wants to do more than me, so sometimes I have to hold him back and ask him whether he's doing too much and should slow down.

H: I always say he is the wen jiang, I'm the wu jiang, you know, I'm out there to fight. So he's always there to make sure that I am fighting within that boundary that the rule is. C: You know, founders sometimes have problems letting go. Does he interfere a little too much in the day to day decision-making process? Does he have trouble letting go? H: Not for the day to day decisions. I think for him, like I mentioned earlier, he is willing to give me the opportunity to make the changes.

And I think he personally wants the changes. But interestingly, he is very passionate about certain brands — brands that he started from day one, like BreadTalk. So we have to exercise a little bit more sensitivity. We don't want to make too big of a change. We will consult him and spend more time engaging him, making sure that he's comfortable with the change and get his support. But for the day to day decisions, he's fine, you know. He enjoys his freedom and his rest now. He looks so much better than two years ago.

C: Laughs You mentioned both of you are very different. Do both of you see eye to eye on things? I set up metrics for team to follow. But I think for Mr Quek, he has that passion for people.

He likes loyalty. So sometimes we don't agree on some issues due to his emphasis on loyalty and my professional management approach. But he usually allows me to make the next step. If for any reason we need to compromise, we discuss this.

How would you describe your leadership and your management style? What are you like as the boss? H: Well, I'm a tough boss. But I think over time, I learnt to be more appreciative of the team. I think in my younger days in my career, I tend to be too aggressive. I tend to be too tough. But I think over time in my position today, I try to balance the emotions of my team. I try to give them clearer directions and my vision for them to move forward.

And I'm usually the fun guy, you know. I want to make sure the guys are motivated. I want to make sure they are happy working with me. And I think over the last 10 years, I have built a little bit of "fans" to work with me if I need help, or even to provide suggestions for ex-employees of mine. You've had one issue last year where one of your outlets had to be closed in a shopping mall here in Singapore because of this problem.

What are you doing to make sure - what systems and checks are you putting in place to make sure you maintain highest of safety standards? H: Well, we have a team of operators that have to travel stores. We basically ensure that we have a checklist to make sure that they go through all the check-and-balances. At the same time we have a QA audit, a quality assurance team, where they help us to make sure that mistakes like these are not repeated.

C: And finally, BreadTalk Group has close to a thousand outlets spread across 19 countries. Where would you like to take the Group under your watch as CEO? Where do you see BreadTalk Group? H: Well, I think for us we definitely want to increase our market cap.

Internally we have set a goal of a billion dollar company for us. Since I've joined, I think the company has doubled in terms of the market cap and I feel that with the teamwork, with clear direction, with the new brands and consolidation of the current ones, we definitely would be able to reach that one billion. But at the same time we are also hoping to bring up the net profits so that we can give more back to the shareholders and at the same time, our team members.

H: Well, I think 2, is our target. With the growth that we are experiencing and the consolidation that we are doing, this is the internal target we have set — 2, stores by H: Maybe, maybe. I think it's too early to tell. We still want to make sure that we do London and Europe well, before we venture into a country that is really far away.

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