CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng discontinues lawsuit against son Sherman Kwek

City Developments Ltd (CDL) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng will be discontinuing his lawsuit against his son Sherman Kwek and six other members of the CDL board. 

“I will continue in my role as executive chairman and Sherman Kwek will continue as group chief executive officer,” said Kwek Leng Beng in a statement issued on Wednesday (Mar 12). 

He added that all the current directors, including Jennifer Duong Young and Wong Su-Yen, will remain on the CDL board.

All the board members have agreed to put aside their differences for the greater good of CDL and its stakeholders, he said. 

“We will all continue to focus on strengthening CDL’s business, in accordance with good corporate governance, now and in the future, including completing the raft of landmark developments under way across Singapore and globally, furthering the expansion of various brands under Millennium & Copthorne (M&C), continuing our capital recycling initiative and, above all, maximising shareholder value.”

High drama

The senior Kwek’s statement brings to a close – for now – the series of dramatic and damning claims that started two weeks ago, with his Feb 26 statement that he had filed court actions against his son Sherman Kwek for an attempted boardroom coup.

Kwek Leng Beng had sought an injunction in his suit filed in the High Court on Feb 25 against Young and Wong to prevent them from exercising the powers of a director. Both women had been appointed as independent non-executive directors of CDL on Feb 7, a move that the elder Kwek had questioned. He had also sought to overturn resolutions passed by the CDL board on Feb 21 concerning long-term adviser Dr Catherine Wu, and had called for Sherman Kwek to be replaced as CEO.

In turn, Sherman Kwek had pointed to Dr Wu as the “primary reason” for the dispute with his father. He claimed that she had interfered in matters “going well beyond her scope” as an adviser to the board of CDL’s hotel unit M&C, and that she wielded and exercised “enormous influence” and had a long relationship with his father.

The board had passed resolutions to terminate the advisory agreement that Dr Wu had with M&C, and to affirm that she had no power and authority over the directors, management and staff of both CDL and M&C.

Last week, Kwek Leng Beng issued a statement saying that Dr Wu had resigned from her position as an “unpaid independent adviser”. He said that she had held the post since August 2024 and was a director on the board of M&C between June 2022 and January 2024.

Some questions remain

Several questions remain unanswered on issues that emerged from the boardroom drama. In a letter to the property developer’s board and management on Mar 6, investor watchdog Securities Investors Association (Singapore) queried CDL, raising questions on Dr Wu’s role at M&C, the appointment process of its newly appointed directors and management reporting lines.

More concerns may be raised by shareholders at CDL’s upcoming annual general meeting on Apr 23.

Kwek Leng Beng, CDL and directors Philip Yeo, Colin Ong and Chong Yoon Chou were the applicants in the court case. They had engaged lawyers from LVM Law Chambers, a firm led by Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming.

The defendants were Sherman Kwek, Wong Su-Yen, Young, Carol Fong (also known as Carolina Chan), Daniel Desbaillets, Wong Ai Ai and Philip Lee Jee Cheng.

Sherman Kwek had roped in Senior Counsel Davinder Singh and his law firm Davinder Singh Chambers as well as a team from Lee & Lee led by Julian Tay.

Source: The Business Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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