Cordlife’s executive chairman steps down

Cordlife announced that its executive chairman Zhai Lingyun has stepped down in a bourse filing on Thursday (Oct 30).

Zhai told the board that he resigned in order to focus on other business and personal commitments. The cord-blood banking operator said that Zhai will continue to serve in certain management capacities within the group.

Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store, a substantial shareholder of Cordlife, had nominated Zhai, who was appointed as executive chairman in January 2025. Previously, he was a non-independent non-executive director on Cordlife’s board.

A new chairman will be appointed in due course.

This development comes after the Ministry of Health issued a notice of intent to suspend Cordlife’s cord-blood banking services for a year on Sep 29. This was due to failure to comply with regulatory requirements in several key areas.

The company subsequently announced that it would assess being able to continue as a going concern in light of the suspension on Oct 2. Cordlife then announced that it could operate till Sep 30, 2026, but the future remains uncertain.

Cordlife has since submitted information requested in the notice of intent on the last day of its 14-day extension on Oct 27.

Shares of Cordlife closed flat at S$0.15 on Thursday.