KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 3): Sarawak-owned Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd (KL:BIPORT) has appointed former Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) executive Anuar Ismail, 57, as its new group CEO, effective Aug 17, 2026.
He replaces Datuk Ruslan Abdul Ghani, 59, who is leaving to join another Sarawak government-linked company. The company did not reveal Ruslan’s next appointment.
Bintulu Port Holdings has not announced who will take over the president role previously held by Ruslan since December 2024, following an organisational restructuring.
According to a filing, Anuar most recently served as head of state relations at PETRONAS. Before that, he held several senior leadership positions within the national oil company, including the head of integrated hydrocarbon management at Malaysia Petroleum Management, head of Sarawak assets at PETRONAS Carigali, and chairman and country head of PETRONAS South Sudan.
Anuar holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in the US.
The leadership change comes just over a month after Bintulu Port Holdings formally completed its transition to state ownership under the Sarawak government through a tripartite agreement signed by the federal government, the Sarawak government and Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd.
The agreement released the federal government from obligations under the 1992 privatisation agreement governing the port, marking the end of Bintulu Port's more than three decades as a federal port. Bintulu Port Holdings had previously said that the transition was one of the milestones under the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), with Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd continuing as the port operator.
The Sarawak government is the largest shareholder of Bintulu Port Holdings, having a combined 41.71% stake through the State Financial Secretary Sarawak and Equisar Assets Sdn Bhd, while PETRONAS owns a 28.52% interest.
On Ruslan’s departure from the company, Bintulu Port Holdings said “he played a key leadership role in overseeing the successful transition of the port transfer from being a Federal port to a Sarawak port and ensuring Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd continues as the port operator of Bintulu Port.”
Ruslan joined the port operator in September 2022 as group chief executive designate before becoming group CEO in March 2023.
During his tenure, Ruslan oversaw the company's expansion into beyond-port businesses and low-carbon initiatives, while spearheading its digital transformation and sustainability agenda, according to the filing.
At noon break on Monday, Bintulu Port Holdings’ shares were down by 16 sen or 2.9% to RM5.34. At its last price, the group is valued at RM2.46 billion.