Malaysia auto empire founder ousted in feud-reports

KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 Reuters reported the co-founder of the Tan Chong auto empire with interests across Asia has been ousted from the boards of the corporate dynasty's flagship Malaysian firms following a family feud, newspapers said on Thursday.

Tan Kim Hor failed to win enough votes to stay on the boards of Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd -- the Malaysian assembly and distribution arm of a family enterprise built on selling Nissan vehicles -- APM Automotive and Warisan TC Holdings, newspapers said.

The three firms held their annual general meeting on Wednesday, where shareholders voted on whether to let the 78-year-old serve another one-year term.

Under Malaysian law, directors aged over 70 must be re-elected each year with 75 percent of the votes cast.

Tan Chong officials declined to comment but said the company would issue a statement to the stock exchange later on Thursday.

At 0414 GMT, Tan Chong Motor and APM shares were down two cents each at 1.59 and 3.44 ringgit respectively while Warisan's were down four cents at 2.94 ringgit.

Kim Hor partnered with his brother Yuet Foh 45 years ago to build up a business left to them by their father.

A prolonged squabble between the descendents of Tan Chong, the patriarch of the family business, prompted the Kim Hor-led faction to take legal action last year to sever commercial links with his late brother's side.

Kim Hor, saying the relationship between the two sides had ``irretrievably broken down,'' filed a court petition to break up the family's holding company, which oversees interests in 10 countries in Asia with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion.

A Malaysian High Court found no grounds to justify a winding-up and struck out the petition, but the decision did little to repair damaged family ties.

The squabble centres on a tussle between Kim Hor and Yuet Foh's son, Heng Chew, for control of the business after his brother died in 1985. Relations began deteriorating as Heng Chew was accused of making major business decisions on his own.

Ownership of the holding company is split between the two sides of the family in a 55:45 percent ratio with Kim Hor's side holding the smaller slice, a key factor behind his failure to win board re-election in Wednesday's voting.

The group is one of several small businesses founded by ethnic Chinese immigrants decades ago that have since gone on to become among the country's richest empires.