DRB-HICOM Bhd yesterday announced the retirement of group managing director Tan Sri Mohd Saleh Sulong, effective the end of the month and said his replacement would be announced “in due course''.

Saleh had, together with the late Tan Sri Yahaya Ahmad, built up the group from the then Diversified Resources Bhd, which merged with HICOM Holdings Bhd in 2000 to create DRB-HICOM Bhd.

Tan Sri Mohd Saleh Sulong Saleh felt it was time for him to hand over the management reins to the new owners. “I am 55 and people say if you have to leave, leave while you are healthy,” he told StarBiz yesterday.

He took over the helm of DRB-HICOM in March 1997 as group executive chairman after the death of Yahaya. He had a tough task steering the group through the Asian financial crisis that followed shortly after.

Saleh managed to overcome the adversities and then executed a merger of the core companies within the group to create DRB-HICOM, which is today one of the biggest conglomerates in the country.

“I had to handle a group with 30,000 employees and 68 active companies. It was not easy,” he added.

Saleh is proud of having successfully held the group together instead of seeing it crumble during the crisis.

“I am handing over a substantially strong conglomerate,” he said.

After the merger and seeing improvements in the group’s financial performance, DRB-HICOM had in 2004 found itself in the centre of a takeover battle between by two tycoons, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary and Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin.

Syed Mokhtar won the bid with an offer of RM3.60 a share.

Saleh sold his shares in DRB-HICOM to Syed Mokhtar in June last year.

Following Syed Mokhtar’s entry into the group, Saleh was appointed group managing director and was obliged to remain with the group to facilitate the transition.

“He has guided, assisted and supported in ensuring a smooth transition prior to his departure,” DRB-HICOM said in a statement yesterday.

Saleh, in thanking his colleagues and peers in the company for their support during his stint, said the time was right for the new owners to put in their own people to head the company.

“I have sold my stake in the company. Perhaps it is time to let go and give the new owner a free hand without the issues related to legacy,” he said.

Datuk Mohd Kamil Jamil was appointed Saleh’s deputy in the group after Syed Mokhtar took control of the company.

Saleh said he would take a few months off but indicated that he still had the zest for business.

“I want to do something that I can call my own,” he said.

DRB-HICOM also announced that Tan Sri Ab Rahman Omar has been appointed executive director and executive adviser to the group’s automotive and component manufacturing division effective today.

Quoted From, Business Times of New Straits Times (10/02/06)