A bitter family dispute between Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of City Developments Ltd (CDL), and his son Sherman Kwek, the group CEO, has plunged the Singaporean property giant into turmoil. Accusations of corporate missteps, governance breaches, and personal entanglements threaten to escalate into a legal battle for control of the multibillion-dollar real estate empire.
A high-stakes familial battle has rocked Singapore 's property giant City Developments Ltd ( CDL ), thrusting the private boardroom dispute of one of the city-state's wealthiest families into the public eye. The clash of words between CDL 's executive chairman, Kwek Leng Beng , and his son, Sherman Kwek , the group CEO, has laid bare deep rifts within the Forbes-ranked fourth-richest family in Singapore .
Accusations of corporate missteps, governance breaches, and personal entanglements threaten to escalate into a contentious legal battle for control of a slice of the multibillion-dollar real estate empire.The first public sign of trouble emerged on Wednesday when CDL, a component of Singapore Exchange's benchmark Straits Times Index, abruptly halted trading, followed by a statement cancelling its scheduled financial year 2024 results briefing. Then came the bombshell: The 84-year-old patriarch publicly accused his son and CDL's chief executive of orchestrating an 'attempted coup at the board level'. The younger Kwek, along with the majority of the board, had appointed two additional directors to 'consolidate control of the Board' and CDL, he said. To thwart the alleged power grab, Kwek Leng Beng filed a lawsuit and later announced he had secured a court order to halt the changes to the CDL Group's board and management.Sherman Kwek, 49, a Boston University graduate, denied the allegations, stating 'there has been no attempt by us to oust the chairman'. He labeled his father's move an 'ambush' and pointed to a deeper source of tension - Catherine Wu, a board adviser to a CDL subsidiary, whom his son accused of interfering in the company's affairs. 'She has been interfering in matters going well beyond her scope, and she wields and exercises enormous influence. These matters have troubled us as directors,' Sherman Kwek said. 'Due to her long relationship with the Chairman, efforts that were made to manage the situation were done sensitively, but to no avail.' The dispute has exposed a power struggle within CDL -- Singapore's largest real estate company by market capitalisation -- and the Kwek family, whose empire is worth $11.5 billion according to Forbes. In early February, Kwek Leng Beng had sought Sherman's dismissal as CEO, citing 'a long series of missteps', including a massive $1.4 billion loss in a 2020 debacle and poor investment decisions in the UK. CDL's share price has also 'consistently underperformed peers since (Sherman) assumed leadership in 2018', the patriarch said. '(Young) people may make business mistakes in their careers and that is understandable, but circumventing corporate governance laws is a red line,' Kwek Leng Beng said. 'As a father, firing my son was certainly not an easy decision' but the stakes were 'simply too high to allow reckless power grabs to destabilise the company', he said
Singapore Property Family Feud City Developments Ltd CDL Kwek Leng Beng Sherman Kwek Corporate Governance
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Battle erupts between billionaire Kwek Leng Beng and son Sherman Kwek for control of CDLDeepSeek has reopened access to its core programming interface after nearly a three-week suspension, resuming a service key to wider adoption of an AI model that's proven remarkably popular since its emergence last month.
Read more »
High-stakes father-son feud rocks Singapore property giantSINGAPORE, March 2 – A high-stakes father-and-son feud has plunged Singapore property giant City Developments Ltd (CDL) into turmoil, with the private boardroom dispute of one of...
Read more »
Singapore tycoon Kwek accuses son of boardroom coup attemptA dog in a village in Buri Ram's Muang district handed over a plastic bag to its owner, who alerted the authorities after 14,000 meth pills were found inside.
Read more »
Behind the CDL boardroom feud: Sherman Kwek blames father’s ex-PA, board adviser for power struggle in SingaporeSINGAPORE, Feb 28 — The ongoing legal and public dispute between property tycoon Kwek Leng Beng and his son, Sherman Kwek, took another turn on Thursday (February 27), with the...
Read more »
Battle for control: In Singapore, CDL chairman Kwek Leng Beng moves to oust CEO son over alleged boardroom coupSINGAPORE, Feb 26 — A power struggle has erupted at property giant City Developments Limited (CDL), with executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng seeking to remove his son, group chief...
Read more »
Private property residents in Singapore cheer news of climate vouchers and ageing-friendly fittingsEven 200 years after the birth of Austria's world-famous 'waltz king' Johann Strauss II, his music has lost none of its magic.
Read more »