To secure Keppel's future, its O&M unit needs to go — with or without Temasek

On a late afternoon on Sept 29, Keppel Corp CEO Loh Chin Hua sat down to give a virtual briefing on the company’s future direction over the next decade. It was well attended by more than 20 journalists and analysts and lasted for more than an hour as Loh patiently took on a barrage of questions. By the end, one thing was clear — it would no longer be business as usual at Keppel.

Indeed, the company’s reaffirmation of Vision 2030 has done more than to signal the end of its reliance on the offshore and marine (O&M) business. The conglomerate has envisaged itself to become an integrated company that would provide solutions for “sustainable urbanisation”. In other words, Keppel would transform into a property developer that will draw on synergistic benefits from its other businesses.

“We are not just a property developer in the traditional sense where we develop vertically. We have infrastructure capabilities. We have environmental solutions. We can look at renewable energy. We can look at connectivity like 5G [and] data centres. So, we can bring more than just a traditional property developer [can offer]”, Loh said.

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