It was the standing of one of Singapore's most seasoned corporate players, Mr. Ong, who controls about 20% of the Vickers Ballas shares, and one of the island-republic's most powerful woman, Madam Ho, whose Singapore Technologies owns 40% of the firm.
Singapore's total fertility rate, which represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years, has been below the population replacement rate for more than three decades.