At that point, no one would have dared to imagine a recovery, much less a turnaround, would have even been possible. But that was then and this is now. Today, Keppel, or New Keppel, as CEO Loh Chin Hua likes to call it, has risen from its ashes.
For global asset manager and operator Keppel, 2016 was a year it would rather not revisit. Social media users hopping on the viral “2026 is the new 2016” throwback trend see the year as an ode to a simpler and happier time before Covid-19 struck. To them, 2016 was a year that was chock-full of pop culture touchstones, from wacky Snapchat filters to the release of DJ duo The Chainsmokers’ infectious dance-pop anthem Closer.
That was most certainly not the case for Keppel. In 2016, the company’s stock traded below $4 as it grappled with the fallout from cratering oil prices. The price of oil fell from about US$115 ($146) a barrel to below US$30 from 2014 to 2016. This dealt a massive blow to Keppel, which at the time was the world’s largest rig builder and drew most of its revenue from its offshore and marine business.
