ComfortDelGro (CDG), on Aug 29, announced that it will be beefing up its senior management team as part of an aggressive expansion strategy to participate in more international tenders, with a targeted emphasis on Europe.
Among the newly created positions, the group has created the position of CEO to oversee its existing and upcoming businesses in Europe.
The new CEO is Damian Rowbotham, who will assume the role on Sept 1. He will supervise the group’s extensive bus, coach, taxi and private hire operations in the UK and Ireland, as well as look at new investment and tender opportunities in the continent.
Rowbotham has joined the group from Stagecoach Group plc. He was CDG’s group finance director (UK and Ireland) from 1999 to 2012.
In addition to Rowbotham’s appointment, the group is also adding on experts in rail tendering and operations under its wholly-owned subsidiary, ComfortDelGro Transit Pte Ltd. These include new heads of rail operations, maintenance and customer experience.
CDG’s group deputy CEO Cheng Siak Kian explains that the group has been “regrouping and looking at opportunities for growth” in the past two years despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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“Significantly, we have started bidding for international rail franchises – something we had never done before. We have seen some success with the successful bid we put in for the Auckland rail franchise, and we are hopeful for the ongoing ones in Sydney and Paris. As we participate in more of such tenders, we have to grow our bid team which will also be instrumental in the transition should we win,” he says.
ComfortDelGro, which currently operates in seven countries, made its foray into the New Zealand land transport market with a $1.13 billion rail franchise contract. It was the first time a Singapore-owned transport company had been awarded a contract to operate passenger rail services beyond local shores.
The group has also been shortlisted in two other rail tenders – one in Paris with French transport giant RATP Group and French rolling stock giant Alstom SA to operate and maintain Lines 15, 16 and 17 of the Grand Paris Express, and the other with UGL Rail and Australian rail infrastructure specialist Coleman Rail to operate and maintain the Sydney Metro Western Sydney Airport line in Sydney.
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CDG’s group chairman Lim Jit Poh said the aggressive foray into the international rail scene is part of the group’s longer-term strategy to grow beyond its traditional taxi and bus businesses.
However, he adds that the taxi and bus segments will remain CDG’s core businesses.
“But we must add on new significant contributors to both the top and bottom lines for long-term survival. We started our rail operations in Singapore in 2003. With close to two decades of world-class services and experience, the time is right for us to now export our expertise overseas,” he says. “But we will not do this alone. We will partner companies with strong repute, who complement us in terms of skills, knowledge and experience. We believe that this is the way forward especially in the multidisciplinary rail industry.”
As at 12.49pm, shares in CDG are trading 1 cent lower or 0.7% down at $1.41.
