SINGAPORE: City Developments Limited ( CDL ) executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng on Wednesday ( Mar 12 ) night dropped the lawsuit against his son and group CEO Sherman over , alleged , governance lapses and what he had described as an attempted power grab at the board level.
Court documents were filed on Feb 25 to handle what he described as an attempted” revolution” by the younger Kwek and to restore business morality.
In a speech, the elder Kwek said:” I have decided that the legal activity that was launched in regard to the table resolutions taken since Feb 7, 2025 may be discontinued.
” I will remain in my position as executive chairman, and Sherman Kwek will remain as party Chief Executive Officer. All the latest executives, including Jennifer Duong Young and Su Yen Wong, will be on the CDL table.”
In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, CDL confirmed that the” jury proceedings have been settled and will be discontinued”.
” The committee will continue to focus on strengthening the bank’s business and may continue to act in accordance with good corporate governance and strive to maximise investor price.”
The top Kwek added that all the committee members had agreed to” set aside their differences” for the” greater great” of CDL and its partners.
” 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 underway across Singapore and globally, furthering the expansion of various brands under ( group subsidiary ) Millennium &, Copthorne, continuing our capital recycling initiative and above all, maximising shareholder value, “he said.
Ms Duong and , Ms Wong were appointed as separate non-executive managers on Feb 7, with the elder Kwek then indicating their visits were a pre-planned efforts by his brother and another directors to consolidate power.
BOARDROOM BATTLE ,
CDL, which is controlled by the Kwek home, is one of Singapore’s largest home businesses.
The home conflict erupted on Feb 25 when Mr Kwek Leng Beng moved to reject his brother, Sherman, as party CEO, filing a lawsuit.  ,
He pointed out the financial losses suffered by the organization under his father’s administration, including what he described as” bad investment decisions “in the UK property market that resulted in significant economic losses as well as a S$ 1.9 billion loss from CDL’s investment in Taiwanese developer Sincere Property in 2020.  ,
Mr Sherman Kwek, who has been group CEO since 2018, later issued a statement, calling his father’s actions” extreme” and said his legal action was not authorised by the majority of the board.
He singled out his father’s former personal assistant, Dr Catherine Wu, as the source of the dispute within CDL. According to him, Dr Wu had been” interfering in matters going well beyond her scope”, and” wields and exercises enormous influence”.
He reiterated that there had been” no attempt by us to oust the chairman”.
On Mar 4, Mr Kwek Leng Beng said that Dr Wu had resigned from her position as an unpaid independent adviser to the board of Millennium &, Copthorne Hotels, a CDL subsidiary.
In his statement then, he said that his son had” sought to justify his board coup and overt breaches of corporate governance with unproven insinuations about Dr Wu”.
” Now that Dr Wu has resigned, the CEO and his team of directors no longer have any continuing basis to make such corporate governance allegations about CDL and to justify his board coup, “he added.