SINGAPORE: The boardroom brawl at City Developments Limited’s (CDL) appears to be over, at least for now. On Wednesday night (March 12), executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng dropped the lawsuit against his son and group CEO Sherman Kwek.
“The court proceedings have been settled and will be discontinued,” the real estate company said.
By Thursday morning, CDL shares saw a 4 per cent jump, with share prices hitting $5.15 shortly before noon, 21 cents higher than Wednesday’s close of $4.94. The Straits Times reported that 3.3 million shares worth about $17 million were traded. On March 11, the company’s shares had hit a low of $4.93.
Mr Kwek said in a statement on Wednesday that the legal action he launched last month would be discontinued and he would remain executive chairman. CNA also quotes him as saying that his son would continue as group chief executive officer and the current directors, including Jennifer Duong Young and Su Yen Wong, would stay on the board.
On Feb 25, Mr Kwek said he initiated the legal move against his son, as well as board members Philip Lee Jee Cheng, Wong Ai Ai, and a group of directors, in order to “set things right” after they allegedly staged a “coup” by appointing two new directors without proper vetting by the nomination committee.
“This is necessary to deal with this attempted coup at the board level and restore corporate integrity,” Mr Kwek said at the time, adding, “We intend to change the chief executive officer at the appropriate time. We will continue to explore all legal options available to us to vigorously defend and protect the interests of CDL and its shareholders.”
Ms Duong and Ms Wong, who had been appointed as independent non-executive directors on Feb 7, were the persons the older Mr Kwek had referred to.
Meanwhile, his son, Sherman Kwek, had revealed, by Feb 27, that the cause of the boardroom brawl was Mr Kwek’s adviser, Dr Catherine Wu.
Sherman Kwek added that there had been no attempt to oust his father, but there had been a rift between them over “a very serious issue of corporate governance within the CDL group arising from the conduct of one Dr Catherine Wu”, reported The Straits Times.
Until January 2024, Dr Wu had been a director at the hotel arm of the older Mr Kwek’s business, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C). She also worked as his personal assistant, although she was not officially employed. Instead, Dr Wu was paid directly by him, according to a 2018 employment tribunal document from London.
In August last year, she rejoined M&C’s board as an adviser. /TISG