CITY Developments Ltd (CDL) on Monday (Mar 3) morning tumbled at the opening after its trading halt was lifted.
The counter fell 7 per cent or S$0.36 to S$4.76 in active trading at the outset. That was its lowest since 2009, based on Bloomberg data.
But it recovered significantly and by 3 pm, it stood at S$4.94, down S$0.18 or 3.52 per cent from its previous traded price.
The property giant said its business operations “remain fully functional and unaffected”, and it is “business as usual”.
“Mr Sherman Kwek remains the group chief executive officer until such time as there is a board resolution to change company leadership,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Sherman Kwek has roped in Senior Counsel Davinder Singh to represent him as he faces his billionaire father Kwek Leng Beng in Singapore’s biggest boardroom battle in recent years, The Straits Times reported.
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Singh will also represent Philip Lee Jee Cheng, Wong Ai Ai, Carol Fong (also known as Carolina Chan), Daniel Desbaillets, Jennifer Duong Young and Wong Su-Yen, the other directors on the CDL board named as defendants in a lawsuit initiated by CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng on Feb 25.
Singh is widely considered Singapore’s foremost litigator, having acted many times for the country’s former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong in various civil proceedings.
He is head of his own self-named practice – Davinder Singh Chambers – and has taken on high-profile cases during his career, including defending the two then-prime ministers in court hearings.
He was also the lead defence lawyer in a recent corruption case involving former transport minister S Iswaran, and represented Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin – better known as OK Lim – in the case of the collapsed oil trader.
CDL had called for a trading halt on Feb 26, which it said was in view of the disagreement within its board over the composition and constitution of the board, as well as its committees.
Kwek Leng Beng said in a statement on Feb 26 that he had filed a court action to deal with an “attempted coup” by Sherman Kwek, Philip Lee Jee Cheng, Wong Ai Ai and directors acting with them.
He alleged that this was orchestrated to consolidate control of the board and group by appointing two new directors and bypassing nomination procedures.
The senior Kwek wanted to remove his son Sherman Kwek as chief executive due to “serious lapses of corporate governance” laws.
He named his nephew – CDL’s chief operating officer Kwek Eik Sheng – as interim CEO “if and when Sherman is removed”, while the group hunted for a professional CEO to lead the company.
In a second statement later that day, the elder Kwek said the two new directors have agreed not to exercise their powers until further court notice.
Sherman Kwek subsequently issued a statement on behalf of the majority of CDL’s board, expressing his disappointment at his father’s “extreme actions”.
He claimed the recent board changes were not about ousting Kwek Leng Beng; instead, they were related to “a very serious issue of corporate governance” involving Dr Catherine Wu, who has had a “long relationship with the chairman”.
In response, the elder Kwek said that Sherman Kwek’s denial of an attempt to oust him “misses the point”, while director Philip Yeo added that Sherman Kwek’s statement on Dr Wu was “an attempt to distract everyone from the matter at hand”.
Citing recent news reports, CDL noted that “various allegations have been made about this matter”.
The company said that it “will not comment on the validity of these allegations, as many of these allegations are the subject of the court proceedings which are ongoing”.
The conflict moves into Singapore’s Supreme Court on Mar 4, when a closed-door case conference will be heard.
Kwek Leng Beng, CDL, and directors Yeo, Colin Ong and Chong Yoon Chou were the applicants in the suit filed in the High Court on Feb 25.
The five applicants are represented by lawyers from LVM Law Chambers, a law firm led by Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming. The defendants are represented by a Lee & Lee team led by Julian Tay.
