HKBN Ltd. announces appointment of William Yeung as Executive Vice-chairman and NiQ Lai as Chief Executive Officer

HONG KONG, May 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HKBN Ltd. ("HKBN" or the "Company"; SEHK stock code: 1310) announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed William Yeung, the Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and an Executive Director of the Company, as the Executive Vice-chairman with effect from 1 September 2018. NiQ Lai, the current Chief Operating Officer and an Executive Director, will assume the role as the CEO with effect from 1 September 2018.

These appointments are part of a long-term succession plan for the Company's sustainable development. After 10 years at the helm, William will step up to focus on engaging key strategic partners and exploring new business opportunities for HKBN, and will report to the Board of Directors; while NiQ, in his new role as the CEO, will take over operational leadership of HKBN, and will maintain his directorship on the Board as an Executive Director.

Both William and NiQ have committed to fully subscribing to their maximum one-year gross salary investment in HKBN's Co-Ownership Plan III (the Plan was approved by the general meeting of the Company held on 15 December 2017).

NiQ joined the Group in 2004 and was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer in 2006, and an Executive Director and the Chief Operating Officer in 2014 and 2017 respectively. As a fellow Co-Owner, NiQ has been closely working with William since 2005, and together, they have successfully led the Company from the Management Buy-Out in May 2012 to Initial Public Offering in Hong Kong in March 2015, and the New World Telecom acquisition in March 2016. 

"William and NiQ have successfully led HKBN's team of Talents for over 12 years and the Board of Directors is excited to support this natural evolution. We welcome William's expanded role as the Executive Vice-chairman and congratulate NiQ on his succession. We look forward to NiQ's continued leadership as the company's CEO and are highly confident that he will continue to drive innovation and competition to the benefit of our customers and shareholders," said Bradley Horwitz, Chairman and Independent Non-executive Director of HKBN.

William and NiQ said, "We have been working closely for well over a decade and we happily share the same conviction with regard to our company's core purpose to 'Make our Hong Kong a better place to live.' We are both fully committed to doing our best to lead HKBN, together with our Co-Owners, towards achieving our Co-Ownership III aspiration goal of HK$2.1 to HK$2.4 Adjusted Available Cash Per Share for the period FY18-20."

Moments of events William and NiQ participated:

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Letting out steam, William (centre left) and NiQ (centre right) celebrate another year of great work with fellow HKBNers in Christmas Party.

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William (left) and NiQ proved their strength as a dynamic leadership duo after delivering outstanding financial and business results in 1H2018.

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Up for any challenge, William (left) and NiQ head HKBN's management team on a 145km charity cycling tour of Taiwan in 2015.

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After steering HKBN's Management Buy-Out in 2012, William (left) and NiQ inaugurate HKBN's listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March 2015.

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In 2011, William (front, centre right) and NiQ (front, centre left) lead fellow HKBNers in a campaign to deliver world-class customer service from the heart.

About HKBN Ltd.

HKBN Ltd. (SEHK Stock Code: 1310, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") is an investment holding company. The Group is Hong Kong's largest provider of residential high speed fibre broadband (symmetrical 100Mbps to 1,000Mbps) services by number of subscriptions, and a fast growing enterprise solutions provider. The Group offers a full range of telecommunications solutions for both the residential and enterprise markets, encompassing broadband and Wi-Fi network services, cloud solutions, data connectivity, data facilities, system integration, mobile services, entertainment and voice communications. HKBN owns an extensive fibre network in Hong Kong, which covers over 2.2 million residential homes passed, representing approximately 81% of Hong Kong's total residential units, and 2,300 commercial buildings. HKBN embraces "Make our Hong Kong a Better Place to Live" as its core purpose, and takes great pride in developing its Talents into a competitive advantage. The Group is managed by over 300 Co-Owners who have invested their own savings to buy HKBN shares, representing the majority of supervisory and management level Talents in the Group.

Appendix – Executive Bios

EXECUTIVE VICE-CHAIRMAN

William Chu Kwong YEUNG, aged 57, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Group, and an Executive Director of the Company.

William Yeung lives and breathes the telecommunications industry. Shortly after starting out as a police inspector, William realised his passion was in customer engagement and operational efficiency. His telecommunications career began with Tricom in Hong Kong, and was followed by a role as Director of Customers Division at SmarTone Mobile Communications Limited. He joined HKBN in 2005 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer in 2008. Today, William leads HKBN Talents to deliver world-class products and services to make our Hong Kong a better place to live. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hong Kong Baptist University, a Master of Business Administration Degree from the University of Strathclyde, U.K., and a Master of Science Degree in Electronic Commerce and Internet Computing from The University of Hong Kong. In 2010, William was recognised as a Champion of Human Resources by The Hong Kong HRM Awards. He is a proud Co-Owner of HKBN.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Ni Quiaque LAI (also known as NiQ), aged 48, is the Chief Operating Officer of the Group, and an Executive Director of the Company.

NiQ Lai joined the Group in May 2004 and has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications, research and finance industries. Prior to joining the Group, NiQ was an analyst and the Director and Head of Asia Telecom Research for Credit Suisse, where he was involved in numerous global fundraising initiatives for a wide range of Asian telecom carriers. Prior to Credit Suisse, NiQ held positions in HKT as a strategic planning manager, and Kleinwort Benson Securities (Asia). He graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 1990 and obtained an Executive Master of Business Administration Degree from Kellogg-HKUST, Chicago-Hong Kong in 2009. NiQ is a fellow member of Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HKICPA) and CPA Australia, and a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. In 2009, he was recognised as Champion of Human Resources by The Hong Kong HRM Awards, and was selected by Global Telecoms Business in 2013 as one of the Top 50 CFOs in the industry to watch. In March 2016, he was recognised as 1st for Best CFO by FinanceAsia Survey of Asia's Best Companies 2016 (Hong Kong). NiQ is currently a member of Advisory Board of Citycom Networks Pvt. Ltd. and a Director of Cambodian Children's Fund (Hong Kong) Limited. As a teenager, NiQ aspired to become a professional tennis player but he was not very good at tennis, so he become an accountant instead. He is a proud Co-Owner of HKBN.

SOURCE HKBN Ltd.