Malaysia - 27 June, 2006 -

As expected, Kulim (Malaysia) Bhd finally succeeded in its bid for the prize KFC franchise following the non-reelection of nine KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd (KFCH) directors at the latter's AGM on June 27. This followed Kulim's protracted and successful tussle that lasted almost a year for the control of QSR Brands Bhd. Kulim now holds 52% of QSR, which in turn has a 32.8% stake in KFCH. KFCH's over three-hour-long AGM turned out to be a rather staid affair in comparison to QSR's previous meetings. Tan Sri Nik Ibrahim Kamil, who began June 27's AGM as KFCH chairman, withdrew his offer for reelection as director, a move that appeared to have caught the other board members by surprise. The nine directors not reelected via polling were Toh Chun Wah, Ahmad Aznan Mohd Nawawi, Nurolamin Abas, Lim Kuan Yew, Yoong Nim Chor, Umar Abdul Hamid, Datuk Subahan Kamal, Michael Tang Vee Mun and Datuk Abdullah Ngah, with over 97% of votes against their reelection. Only Rita Benoy Bushon, a representative of the Employees Provident Fund, and Hassim Baba were reelected as directors. The other directors, who were not subject to reelection, were Datuk Seri Abdul Ghani Abdul Aziz, Datuk Mohd Salleh Hashim and Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani. The resolutions for the payment of directors' fees, for the authority to issue and allot shares and for the proposed renewal of share buy-back authority were also not carried. In a statement later, KFCH announced the appointment of five new directors Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim, Ahamad Mohamad, Jamaludin Md Ali, Kua Hwee Sim and Mohd Zam Mustaman. It also announced the retirement of Toh as KFCH chief operating officer. At a briefing later, Muhammad Ali said: "I welcome the decision (on the non-reelection of the directors), particularly the need to rest the conflicts and squabbles, which are unnecessary and a waste of time and energy." Moving forward, he said: "We are bound to ensure that it (business plans) is carried through." Speaking to reporters, Nik Ibrahim said he wanted to take a break after the year-long tussle. "I respect whatever authorities' decisions made. "I have been thinking about it (resigning as director) for some time already, but I can't just abandon ship mid-way. I have to at least see through one financial year," he said. "There is nothing to be bitter about. I have full confidence in the new shareholders (Kulim). It will be silly if they were to just let go such a gem," said Nik Ibrahim. He said he was willing to sell out his 7% stake in QSR at the right price, though he did not discount accumulating more shares. Aznan said Kulim's ability to steer KFCH forward would only be known early next year as the plans put in place earlier would be carried through in the next two quarters.

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