MD’s exit to put KPJ’s growth momentum to the test

This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 31, 2026 – September 6, 2026

KPJ Healthcare Bhd (KL:KPJ) is once again facing a change at the top, this time after a period in which the group delivered stronger earnings and sharpened its growth strategy as it laid out its most ambitious expansion plan to date.

President and managing director Chin Keat Chyuan’s abrupt resignation on Aug 21 came as a surprise, particularly as several of the initiatives introduced during his tenure are still being implemented. Moreover, it is understood that his contract had been renewed for another term.

“Chin’s departure will be a loss to the healthcare group. During his tenure, he implemented a few transformation initiatives that propelled the group’s net profit by more than 100% and its share price hit a record high,” an analyst who requested anonymity tells The Edge.

Chin’s leaving now raises the question of how KPJ will maintain that momentum under new leadership. Analysts say the group’s fundamentals remain intact, but the next managing director will inherit a sizeable execution agenda, led by a RM5 billion capital expenditure plan and the continued rollout of the group’s centres of excellence.

It is worth noting that KPJ had introduced a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) in January 2025 for eligible employees and executive directors, aimed at tying rewards to longer-term performance and retention. Shareholders had approved an allocation of a maximum of three million LTIP shares to Chin in an extraordinary general meeting on Feb 28, 2025. Three months later, he was awarded 1.05 million LTIP shares, worth about RM3.07 million (based on KPJ’s closing price as at May 7, 2025, of RM2.93). The vesting period of the LTIP shares awarded was up to three years from May 8, 2025.

“It would appear that Chin would no longer be entitled to the award,” says the analyst.

In the announcement filed with Bursa Malaysia, the reason given for his exit was just “to pursue other interests”.

When contacted, Chin declined to comment and directed The Edge to KPJ’s corporate communications personnel.

Transformation in the last three years

Chin joined KPJ in September 2023 after more than two decades at Johnson & Johnson, where he had risen through the ranks to managing director for Malaysia and Brunei. His mandate at KPJ included deriving better returns from the company’s sprawling network and sharpening its specialist offerings.

Chin had already delivered the first leg of KPJ’s transformation through stronger profitability, tighter cost discipline, portfolio rationalisation and a move into higher-value specialist care. On costs, he saw to centralised procurement across the hospital network, used its scale to negotiate better supplier terms and locked in prices under tender arrangements, generating average annual procurement savings of about RM70 million over the past three years.

The 52-year-old also rationalised underperforming overseas assets, disposing of KPJ Dhaka in Bangladesh and selling the Australian aged care business, while retaining stronger performing assets such as Vejthani Hospital in Thailand. KPJ also began establishing its centres of excellence (COEs) to retain complex cases, raise revenue per bed and strengthen its medical tourism proposition.

The healthcare group’s net profit rose 48% from RM182.65 million in FY2022 (the last full financial year before Chin) to RM270.41 million in FY2023, and almost doubled to RM407.24 million in FY2024. Net profit reached RM365.9 million in FY2025, growing 100.3% from the FY2022 level. Revenue of RM2.87 billion in FY2022 climbed to RM3.42 billion in FY2023, RM3.92 billion in FY2024 and RM4.25 billion in FY2025.

For the first half ended June 30, 2026, net profit increased 24.8% year on year to RM173.6 million while revenue rose 12.9% to RM2.25 billion, thanks to higher inpatient volumes and revenue per inpatient.

The incoming MD will inherit KPJ’s 2026-2030 strategic plan, which was announced in February, and its RM5 billion capital expenditure plan to be rolled out over the next four to five years. The investment is set to add 2,200 beds to KPJ’s network of hospitals, increasing its total bed capacity by more than 50% to about 6,270 beds from 4,070 now.

Chin had told The Edge in an earlier interview that the RM5 billion investment will “primarily support brownfield expansion across our existing hospitals, including new clinical towers, additional capacity and specialist facilities, while also investing in digital health infrastructure, clinical technologies and other strategic initiatives that support the convergence of AI, genomics and value-based care”.

KPJ, which is 44.36% owned by Johor Corp, currently operates 30 hospitals nationwide with a presence in every state except Terengganu and Melaka.

The group also aims to establish 15 COEs by 2030 and has so far launched three: the Heart & Lung Centre of Excellence at KPJ Johor Specialist Hospital, the Neuroscience & Stroke Centre of Excellence at KPJ Damansara Specialist Hospital 2 in Kuala Lumpur and subsequently the Orthopaedic and Rheumatology COE at KPJ Penang Specialist Hospital.

“We have already seen some results from the two COEs [Johor Specialist Hospital and Damansara Specialist Hospital 2 in Kuala Lumpur],” says an analyst.

The COEs are also expected to attract more international patients. Medical tourism remains quite underdeveloped at KPJ, contributing only 6.2% to FY2025 revenue, compared with 15% at IHH Healthcare Bhd (KL:IHH) and 13.8% at Sunway Healthcare Holdings Bhd (KL:SUNMED).

The analysts The Edge spoke to say Chin’s departure could also be felt in KPJ’s preparations for the Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) payment system rollout in 2027.

“As vice-president of the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia, Chin had been closely involved in industry engagement with policymakers on the reform. His successor will now have to continue that engagement [for KPJ] while ensuring the group can protect its margins and adapt to a value-based reimbursement model,” says the first analyst.

“The new MD will have a role to fulfil not just within KPJ, but within Malaysia’s private healthcare sector as a whole. As the Ministry of Health expands its decanting initiative, which involves outsourcing selected patients from public hospitals to private facilities to ease congestion, the incoming MD will have to work closely with the government on this as part of the broader healthcare reset initiative.” 

When Chin steps down, chief medical director Professor Datuk Dr Hanafiah Harunarashid will become officer-in-charge from Sept 1 pending the appointment of a permanent president and MD.

Datuk Amiruddin Abdul Satar, a long-time KPJ executive who had risen through the group, served as president and managing director from January 2013 until July 2020. He was succeeded by Ahmad Shahizam Mohd Shariff, who joined KPJ after holding senior leadership roles in the healthcare sector, including at Pantai Holdings and Parkway Pantai, and stepped down in March 2022. Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh, formerly group CEO of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd, then took over but lasted only five months, from April to September 2022. Chin was appointed a year later, and with a three-year tenure, became the second-longest serving MD among the four.

Bloomberg data shows that of 18 analysts covering the stock, 13 have a “buy” recommendation and five a “hold”. The consensus 12-month target price is RM3.62.

Some analysts argue that the market had already priced in much of KPJ’s operational improvement before Chin’s departure, particularly after the broader re-rating of Malaysian healthcare stocks surrounding Sunway Healthcare’s listing in March.

“I do think the market overreacted [to news of KPJ’s developments and announcements this year]. Sunway Healthcare has already listed and other players have already been revalued and re-rated. Yet analysts have kept raising their target prices. KPJ’s valuation is already very rich,” says the second analyst.

“Chin’s departure from KPJ will likely affect our call. But we will need to assess the incoming MD’s plans first.” 

Leadership change weighs on KPJ’s share price

Shares of KPJ Healthcare Bhd (KL:KPJ) came under selling pressure following the announcement of the resignation of its president and managing director Chin Keat Chyuan on Aug 21, after having headed the group for nearly three years. The healthcare group had informed Bursa Malaysia that Chin was leaving to pursue other interests.

KPJ’s shares, which closed at RM3.13 on Aug 20, plunged over the week to RM2.70 last Friday, valuing the company at RM11.95 billion. An estimated RM1.9 billion was wiped out within days of the announcement.

KPJ’s share price experienced a strong run during Chin’s tenure. From RM1.09 on Sept 1, 2023, when he took over as president and managing director, it climbed as much as 216% to a record high of RM3.50 on April 2, 2026.

The day before the announcement, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) disposed of 8.55 million shares in KPJ. The shares would have been worth about RM26.76 million, based on KPJ’s Aug 20 closing price of RM3.13.

The fund had been accumulating KPJ shares over the last few months. Based on KPJ’s filings with Bursa, the EPF’s stake in the company peaked at around 902 million shares, equivalent to 20.37% equity interest, on July 8 before it began taking profit.

KPJ’s 2025 annual report lists the EPF as its second largest shareholder with 722.64 million shares, or 16.33% equity interest, as at March 31, 2026, behind Johor Corporation’s total direct and indirect interest of 42.51%. Waqaf An-Nur Corp Bhd — Johor Corporation’s corporate social responsibility and Islamic endowment arm — held 6.32%.

Over the week following the announcement of Chin’s exit, the EPF continued to pare down its stake in the healthcare group, leaving it with a balance of 801.98 million shares as at Aug 27.

Also on Aug 21, KPJ announced that Chin had disposed of all 981,500 of his shares in the company for RM3.068 million, bringing his direct interest to zero.

“He acquired 100,000 shares in his first year, 600,000 shares during the second year, and more subsequently on the open market,” says an analyst. These are not the shares awarded to Chin in May 2025 as part of KPJ’s long-term incentive plan.

“We do not know where Chin [is going], but his resignation and share sale sent a very negative signal to the market,” the analyst adds.

Read also:

“Letter To The Editor: KPJ’s growth architecture is institutional, built beyond any single chapter”

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