TCC Group (台泥集團) chairman Leslie Koo (辜成允) died early yesterday of severe head injuries sustained in a fall down a flight of stairs at a Taipei hotel on Saturday night.
Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥), the flagship subsidiary of TCC Group, announced that Koo, 63, had died at 6:20am.
The accident occurred at the Regent Taipei (晶華酒店), where Koo had been attending a wedding banquet. The hotel yesterday lowered the corporate flags flying in front to half-mast in honor of Koo.
Photo: Yang Ya-min, Taipei Times
Sources said the Taipei Police Department is investigating Koo’s death, and yesterday called in two eyewitnesses and asked for the hotel for its ecurity camera footage.
The nation’s largest cement maker yesterday appointed board director Nelson Chang (張安平) to replace Koo as chairman.
The board of Taiwan Cement called a special meeting to put Chang, Koo’s brother-in law, who is also chief executive officer of LDC Hotels & Resorts Group (雲朗觀光集團), in charge of the 71-year-old company.
Photo: Wang I-hung, Taipei Times
Chang was also appointed chairman of two Taiwan Cement affiliates — China Synthetic Rubber Corp (CSRC, 中國合成橡膠) and Taiwan Prosperity Chemical Corp (TPCC, 信昌化學工業).
He previously served as vice chairman of Taiwan Cement and Chia Hsin Cement Corp (嘉新水泥).
“Taiwan Cement’s operation target for this year will not change and we will continue working on Koo’s “original plans” [for the whole group], Chang told reporters after the board meeting.
He also said that he was upbeat about the company’s sales outlook for this year.
Leslie Koo came from one of the largest and most prominent families in Taiwan, the Koos of Lukang. He was the second son of Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), a former chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, who died in 2005 at the age of 88.
Leslie Koo had led Taiwan Cement since 2003, transforming the company into the sixth-largest cement maker in China by capacity and the 12th-largest globally.
Taiwan Cement saw its net profit in the first three quarters of last year soar 13.63 percent to NT$4.55 billion (US$144.8 million).
Shares of Taiwan Cement yesterday gained 2.29 percent to close at NT$35.75 in Taipei trading after Chang’s announcement, while the benchmark increased 0.99 percent to 9,424.05 points.
Additional reporting by CNA
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