History
The company has its history dated back to 1900. Founded by Yeo Keng Lian, a native of Fujian, China, it was established in Singapore in 1935 as the Yeo Hiap Seng Sauce Factory.
The company was incorporated in Singapore on 20 December 1955 and was listed on 7 November 1968 and renamed to its present name.
The 1950s saw the company to can curry chicken and pioneered the bottling of soy milk, and package Asian drinks in Tetra Brik aeptic containers using the Ultra-high temperature processing system.
In June 1995, Robert Ng took over as chairman of Yeo Hiap Seng (YHS). His chairmanship came at the same time as his family increased its stake in the company to 24.9%, just short of the 25% threshold above which they would be required by law to make an offer to buy out all other shareholders. This marked a step forward in his fight with Malaysian billionaire investor Quek Leng Chan for control of YHS and its land holdings in Singapore's Bukit Timah district, which could be worth billions of dollars were they redeveloped into residential real estate. In the end, Ng and his father were able to successfully take advantage of squabbles within the Yeo family to buy up 86% of YHS' stock. Their battle to gain control of the company was later described as "one of the most colourful take-over struggles in Singapore history" and led to YHS' transformation from a food company to a luxury real estate developer.
Read more about this topic: Yeo Hiap Seng
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