David Teoh Biography
David Teoh is an Australian businessman. He is the executive chairman of TPG, an Australian telecommunications and IT company. He founded it with his wife, Vicky Teoh.
David Teoh is also the 11th-richest person in Australia.
David Teoh Age
Teoh was born David Siang Hai Teoh (Teoh is a Chinese family name. It is a romanization of Teochew and Hokkien names, including 张 or 張. It is also rendered as Tiu, Teo, Tio, Thio, and Tiew) in 1955 in Malaysia. He is 63 years old as of 2018.
David Teoh Family
No information on his parents or siblings is disclosed.
David Teoh Wife
He is married to Vicky Teoh.
David Teoh Children
Teoh has four sons; Shane, Jack, John, and Bob.
David Teoh
David Teoh Educational Background
No information on his educational qualifications is disclosed.
David Teoh Business | David Yeoh TPG
David founded TPG with his wife. It started as a computer company. It later made upgrades which have greatly contributed to its success.
He announced in August 2018 that TPG was discussing a proposed $ 13 billion tie-up with Vodafone Hutchinson Australia. The only comment Teoh made about the proposed merger was that pricing would be “very aggressive,” bringing value to the customer.
His four children launched over a dozen start-ups in clothing, furniture, technology, and eyeglasses. Vicky Teoh has its own significant investments, including a pharmaceutical and healthcare company, Vita Life Sciences Ltd.
David Teoh Net Worth
David has a net worth of 1.7 billion dollars as of 2019.
David Teoh Residence
He lives in Australia.
David Teoh Interview
TPG Telecom’s David Teoh says gender diversity a priority, dodges the second strike
TPG Telecom executive chairman David Teoh has said appointing a female director for the first time in the company’s history is a “priority” in deciding the composition of the board following the intended merger with Vodafone.
His comment, made at the TPG annual general meeting on Wednesday, came after shareholders grilled him on the lack of gender diversity on the telecommunication company’s five-man board.
“The ASA has trouble with this particular board,” Geoffrey Orrock of the Australian Shareholders Association said. “There’s no gender diversification and we wonder why it’s one of only two companies of the ASX 100 companies in that situation. What are the benefits of having an all-male board?”
After initially refusing to comment, Mr. Teoh was eventually drawn on the issue when a second questioner asked if the Vodafone merger would be a catalyst for a female director.
“I have interviewed some candidates for the director post for the merged co[mpany]. And everyone I interview is a woman. So to answer your question, we put a priority on that,” he said.
His comments came as TPG dodged a second strike on its remuneration report, with 93.7 percent of proxy voters voting in favor of the report.
That meant there was no chance of the remuneration report being voted down, and therefore no need to vote on a board spill.
A second strike, following last year’s first strike, would have forced a board spill vote, though this would have almost certainly been defeated.
Proxy voters also overwhelmingly voted in favor of the re-election of directors Robert Millner and Shane Teoh, despite a number of proxy advisers speaking out on the lack of women on the board.
Increase in debt
In his formal address, Mr. Teoh emphasized TPG’s strong performance under difficult conditions, insisting “TPG is doing well”.
However, shareholders pressed him on a number of issues, including the ACCC’s decision to sue the company over misleading customers, and the plan to take on additional debt to pay a special dividend following the merger with Vodafone.
On the ACCC court case, chief financial officer Stephen Banfield said TPG had not yet received official court papers but said if TPG considered the impact could be material, then the company would have to issue a statement on the ASX under continuous disclosure rules.
The cost to TPG of remediation and penalties is unknown but is likely to run to tens of millions.
Several shareholders pressed TPG on its plan to increase its debt by almost $700 million if the merger with Vodafone goes ahead.
Both TPG and Vodafone Hutchison Australia will bring $2 billion of debt to the merged company. However, TPG has significantly less debt than this – $1.319 billion according to its 2018 annual report – while VHA has significantly more.
Mr. Banfield said VHA would offload a large portion of the debt to its parent companies, while TPG would distribute the additional debt to TPG shareholders.
He did not think this would be a problem but was clarifying that with the Australian Taxation Office.
NBN blamed
Mr. Teoh pinned the company’s slowed growth and reduced dividends on the migration from ADSL to the much less profitable NBN, and the cost of investing in 5G.
“The whole industry is under big profit pressure, it’s not only TPG,” he said.
He said the reduction in dividends was “for the long-term benefit of the company”.
“Our group has to invest in the future for the benefits of all investors, and we can’t run away from that. We have to be in 5G.”
He added that the 5G spectrum auction, which began in late November, had not yet finished, and gave no indication of when it would finish.
In his pre-written address, Mr. Teoh said: “The merger with VHA, if approved, will create a step change in the evolution of our group which will benefit shareholders and customers alike.
“Together we will become a more formidable competitor to Telstra and Optus, our complementary fixed and mobile infrastructure enabling us to deliver more competitive value propositions to Australian consumers coupled with the high levels of customer service that differentiates us in the marketplace.”
Mr. Banfield said the merger with VHA would likely go through in the first half on 2019 pending an ACCC decision, which is expected on December 13.
Adapted from: https://www.afr.com
Date Published: December 5, 2018