CDL’s Kwek Leng Beng, Sherman Kwek announce 3.9% profit growth in 1H marked by boardroom tussle

Mr Sherman Kwek said the company usually does not speak much about succession plans.

“We haven’t really talked much about that in the last 20 years, nor have we ever given a timeline. So I think these things are fluid, and ultimately it will depend on discussions at that point in time,” he said.

He added that it will depend on how shareholders and the board view things.

“For us, it’s business as usual as we move forward now. And I think, as the chairman has mentioned, we put the … early part of the first half’s events behind us.”

Following a question on the company’s share price, the elder Mr Kwek spoke up again.

“As far as (the) succession plan is concerned, the past (is) over. We look forward to the future with strength, tenacity … I am always looking forward, and this should be the case,” he said to applause from the audience.

THE CDL SAGA

In late February, the elder Mr Kwek attempted to sack his son as CEO and filed a lawsuit over alleged governance lapses.

He claimed that Mr Sherman Kwek and a group of directors bypassed CDL’s nomination committee to push through changes in the board without proper review.

The younger Mr Kwek said the legal action was not authorised by the majority of the board.

Both men made several public statements, with Mr Sherman Kwek taking aim at Dr Catherine Wu, who was then-independent adviser to the board of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited, a subsidiary of CDL.

He said Dr Wu had been “interfering in matters going well beyond her scope” and “wields and exercises enormous influence”. Dr Wu resigned from her role in March.

CDL board member Philip Yeo also spoke up amid the tussle, siding with the elder Mr Kwek and saying that Mr Sherman Kwek’s statement on Dr Wu was “an attempt to distract everyone from the matter at hand”.

Mr Yeo is a former civil servant who served as executive chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB) from 1986 to 2001 and as executive co-chairman at EDB from 2001 to 2006. He stepped down as CDL director at the end of July.