SINGAPORE - Singapore Post on Thursday (May 5) named Mr Simon Israel, a former executive director and president of Temasek Holdings and chairman of Singtel, as its next chairman.

Mr Israel, 63, will helm the board with effect from May 11. The appointment has received the relevant regulatory approvals, SingPost said.

The appointment follows last month's announcement by SingPost chairman of 13 years, Mr Lim Ho Kee, that he will not seek reappointment as a director at SingPost's shareholder meeting in July.

Mr Lim said: "Simon is a highly experienced business leader and strategist with a successful track record at various leading global organisations. SingPost will certainly benefit from his knowledge and international experience in driving business growth for the long term."

Mr Zulkifli Baharudin, who chairs SingPost's nominations committee, noted that Mr Israel will be a non-independent chairman, as Singtel is SingPost's major shareholder.

A lead independent director will be appointed shortly, he said.

Former lead independent director Keith Tay had resigned suddenly on Tuesday following the release of a special audit report into SingPost's disclosure lapses.

In a statement released Thursday, Mr Israel thanked Singpost management and employees for continuing to drive business performance and transformation while governance and leadership issues are being resolved.

"My immediate priorities are to lead the board through the completion of the corporate governance review, review board composition and appoint a new Group chief executive," he said.

Mr Israel was a board member of Temasek Holdings from 2005 and served as the investment firm's president between 2010 and 2011, before retiring in July 2011. He was appointed chairman of Singtel in 2011.

The announcement was made after markets closed. Singpost shares were down 1.5 cents or 0.94 per cent at S$1.575 at close.