Key Personnel

Mr Rikhipal Singh Thakral (“Rikhi”) was appointed as Advisor to the Investment Committee of the Company on 1 March 2017. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Company’s subsidiaries, Thakral Lifestyle Pte Ltd, Thakral Japan Properties Pte Ltd, TJP Pte Ltd and Thakral Umeda Properties Pte Ltd.

Rikhi joined the Thakral Family Group of companies (the “Family Group”) in 1979 and is presently an Executive Director overseeing the Family Group’s property division, and is jointly responsible for the development and management of the Family Group’s real estate portfolio in Japan and Singapore. He has extended experience of doing business in a number of Southeast Asian countries.

Rikhi is also the Founder and CEO of In-Sewa Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to humanitarian and social activities. He has been conferred Honorary Doctorate in Humanity by University of Cambodia as well as Vietnam National University for his significant humanitarian work in Indo-China. Rikhi has been awarded Development Medal No.1 by the President of Laos and is an Honorary Member of the Board of Trustees of The University of Cambodia.

Mr Anil Moolchand Daryanani is the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) and has overall responsibility for the financial functions at the Group including reporting, risk management, internal controls, financial planning, treasury and taxation with additional responsibilities for the legal, corporate secretarial and information technology functions. Prior to his appointment as CFO, Anil was the Group Financial Controller.

Anil joined the Group in 1982 and has more than 35 years of experience in financial management, taxation, accounting, legal and corporate financial matters. He has played key roles in the major corporate exercises undertaken by the Group right from and including the listing of the Group in 1995 on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Singapore. He works closely with the Group’s banks and financial, tax and legal advisers in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Anil is a director of a number of the Company’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Mr Kanwaljeet Singh Dhillon is the Managing Director of Thakral Corporation (HK) Limited, and one of the founding members of the Group. He is responsible for a key part of the Group’s sales and marketing operations.

Kanwaljeet joined the Group in 1977 and has more than 40 years of experience in consumer electronics trading and distribution. His mastery of the Chinese market has been a strong enabler for the Group’s growth in Hong Kong and China. Kanwaljeet contributed strongly to the listing of the Group in 1995 and subsequently to the growth in overall sales of the Group. More recently, he was responsible for successfully securing exclusive distributorship from DJI for South Asia for commercial and consumer drone and photography products. With the help of his team, he manages the sourcing, distribution and market development of these products in the allocated territories.

Kanwaljeet graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Punjab University, India.

Mr Torsten Stocker is the Chief Operating Officer, Lifestyle Division of the Group. Based in Hong Kong and China, his responsibilities include strategy and new business development, including identifying beauty, fragrance and lifestyle brands for distribution and exploring business model expansion opportunities. He also oversees recruiting and people development and leads operational improvement initiatives across the business and is a director in the Group’s China joint venture with UK at-home beauty device e-commerce retailer, CurrentBody.

Based in Asia since 1996, Torsten was previously a partner at global management consultancies A.T. Kearney and Monitor Group. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Mannheim Cooperative State University and a MBA from Aston Business School, Aston University.

Mr Indergopal Singh Thakral is the Managing Director of the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral China Ltd. His responsibilities include strategising Thakral China’s beauty and fragrance business, executing the strategy and driving sales together with its China team as well as expanding the Lifestyle Division’s brand portfolio in China. He is a director in the Group’s China joint venture with UK at-home beauty device e-commerce retailer, CurrentBody.

Based in Shanghai with over 7 years of experience in business management, Indergopal continues to deepen his knowledge in the psyche and consumption preference of the Chinese market beyond those gained through his earlier roles as General Manager, Vice President of Beauty Division and Product Manager. Indergopal, together with senior management, drove the repositioning of Lifestyle Division’s portfolio of brands towards beauty and fragrance. He is actively looking at opportunities in the sector where businesses are leveraging on technology and tech start-up in the beauty and fragrance segment in China.

Indergopal holds a Bachelor’s degree from Singapore Management University and attended training programmes on Developing Emerging Leaders and Negotiation Skills from Insead and Harvard Business School respectively.

Mr Satbir Singh Thakral is the Marketing Director of the Group’s Lifestyle Division. He is directly responsible for leading the marketing functions, including enhancing marketing infrastructure for development and implementation of premium products which are sold globally.

Satbir has over 10 years of experience in marketing and brand management through his various roles as Project Manager, Sales and Marketing Manager, Vice President of Lifestyle Products and Marketing Director of the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral China Ltd. Building on his experience and technical knowledge of the constantly evolving digital landscapes, Satbir revitalised the Lifestyle Division’s traditional brick and mortar channels into essential online e-commerce platforms to support the re-positioning and transformation of the Lifestyle Division. He enhanced the marketing infrastructure with appropriate use of digital and social media marketing tools which enabled the Lifestyle Division to improve brand awareness to reach out to a wider group of consumers and capture a larger market share of sales.

Satbir recently completed his Executive Education in Business Leadership from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Mr Sean Qiu is the Financial Controller of the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral China Ltd. His responsibilities include planning and execution of financial strategy as well as overseeing administrative, human resource, information technology, legal, logistics and sales support matters.

Sean joined the Group during the second millennium and rose through the ranks from Finance Manager to the present role of Financial Controller. He has over 20 years of experience in financial management and works closely with the Group’s banks, tax and legal advisers in China.

Sean graduated from the Accounting faculty of Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance.

Mr Kevin Charles Barry is the Joint Managing Director of the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral Capital Australia Pty Ltd. He is responsible for managing the day to day affairs of the Group’s Investment Division.

Kevin has over 25 years of experience in the investment banking, commercial finance and legal markets. He started initially as a finance lawyer in Sydney with KPMG and Blake Dawson Waldron, and then in London with Norton Rose. He moved to investment banking in 2001 at Zurich Capital Markets Asia where he was Senior Vice President responsible for the structuring and execution of their principal finance business, including the funding of commercial and residential loan portfolios.

Kevin was an Executive Director of the CHOPIN structured finance business that originated fixed income products across a number of different asset classes, including mezzanine property finance, lease and trade receivables and investment loans. Prior to joining the Group’s Investment Division, he was involved in setting up the credit strategies funds management business at Pengana Capital Limited.

He is the Non-Executive Chairman of ASX listed companies Open Learning Limited and ICSGlobal Limited and a Director of the Company’s Singapore subsidiaries, Thakral Capital Holdings Pte Ltd and TCAP Pte Ltd as well as a number of investment subsidiaries and joint venture entities of the Group in Australia. Kevin graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce and Laws from the University of New South Wales and is a solicitor in New South Wales.

Mr Greggory John Piercy (“Gregg”) is the Joint Managing Director of the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral Capital Australia Pty Ltd. His responsibilities include business development, relationship management, strategy, origination, fund raising, risk management and overseeing the financial modelling of investment projects.

Gregg has more than 35 years of experience in financial markets, banking and real estate investment with a number of major banks, including ANZ Capital Markets, Lloyds and Societe Generale Australia where he was engaged in developing products and trading in derivatives, fixed interest products and asset swap markets.

In 1998, Gregg moved to Singapore and with his partners, established Presidio Capital, a successful debt and derivatives broking business where he was involved in the development of high yield, distressed and mezzanine debt products on behalf of investment funds and principal finance groups across Asia. In 2005, he was a founding partner of Asia Equity Partners Pte Ltd and assisted in the establishment of the successful US$100 million Injaz Asia Equity Property Fund which invested in 3 office buildings in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and generated investor returns in excess of 30% IRR.

Gregg was Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Capital in Singapore prior to joining the Group’s Investment Division. He is a Director of the Company’s Singapore subsidiaries, Thakral Capital Holdings Pte Ltd and TCAP Pte Ltd as well as a number of investment subsidiaries and joint venture entities of the Group in Australia including GTH Resorts and GemLife.

Mr Victor Shkolnik is an Executive Director of the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral Capital Australia Pty Ltd. His responsibilities include risk management, execution of investment opportunities, project due diligence and oversight, corporate and funds management.

Victor has over 35 years of experience in the finance industry, specialising in credit risk management and property financing. He has held a variety of roles, amongst them a Director and Senior Vice President respectively in the risk management divisions of Deutsche Bank AG and Bankers Trust Australia, Head of Credit with Zurich Capital Markets Asia and Chief Credit Officer with the Challenger Group.

Victor had been a director of a property development company in Sydney which had undertaken projects in excess of A$300 million, a co-founder of a wholesale mortgage company with assets in excess of A$1.2 billion and was involved in setting up the credit strategies funds management business at Pengana Capital Limited.

He is a Non-Executive Director of ASX listed ICSGlobal Limited, a Director and Alternate Director of the Company’s Singapore subsidiaries, TCAP Pte Ltd and Thakral Capital Holdings Pte Ltd respectively as well as a Director of a number of investment subsidiaries and joint venture entities of the Group in Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia and CPA Australia.

Mr Michael James Stubbs is the Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of the Company’s principal subsidiary in Australia, Thakral Capital Australia Pty Ltd. His responsibilities include treasury management, working with clients to fund projects, and statutory requirements including financial reporting, taxation and company secretarial duties.

Michael has over 25 years of experience in accounting, taxation, M&A, treasury and business recovery matters. He was the Group Taxation & Projects Manager at Australian-listed Alesco Corporation Limited where he was involved in 20 acquisitions and two divestments and developed and implemented tax compliance processes across 5 diverse divisions and held other managerial roles. He moved on to be the General Manager (Finance) of B&D Garage Doors & Openers, a division of Dulux Group Limited where he delivered key strategic projects and was responsible for guiding strategy development, accounting, tax, IT, FX and foreign operations.

Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Business from University of Technology, Sydney and holds a Masters of Taxation from University of New South Wales. He is a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and is a Registered Tax Agent.

Mr Ashmit Singh Thakral is the Finance Director of GemLife Group, the over-50s lifestyle resorts joint venture with the Puljich family in Australia. He has been involved with GemLife since joining the Company’s principal subsidiary, Thakral Capital Australia Pty Ltd in Sydney in February 2017 working as an Investment Manager.

With over 10 years of experience in the finance industry, Ashmit has covered various roles and responsibilities including credit/risk analysis, financial structuring & modelling, feasibility analysis, and overall project management and financial reporting. He was an Investment Manager in the Property Investment Division of the Thakral Family Group of companies, and also received extensive experience working in various external firms. Ashmit was a General Partner of a multi-million dollar fund which invested in second market shares of billon-dollar valued US private companies during his time living in Shanghai. He also worked as a credit/risk analyst in ST Asset Management, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings which is an investment arm of the Singaporean Government.

Ashmit holds a Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree in Mathematics from the University of Oxford, UK.