https://mothership.sg/2025/03/yeo-sherman-kwek-yeo/

'Focus on making back S$1.9 billion in losses': Philip Yeo on CDL CEO Sherman Kwek

Yeo said Catherine Wu was an adviser to CDL's hospitality business, which had shown profit improvement in recent years.

March 01, 2025, 06:27 PM

Philip Yeo, non-independent non-executive director at City Developments Limited, said the group's chief executive officer Sherman Kwek's allegations about Catherine Wu were "an attempt to distract everyone from the matter at hand".

Intentionally circumvent

Yeo, former executive chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and a member of CDL's board, issued a statement on Feb. 28.

In it, he criticised Sherman Kwek and those aligned with him, saying that they had "intentionally circumvented the company's nomination committee".

They had also sought to appoint two additional independent directors against legal advice.

Yeo was quoted by CNA as saying that Sherman Kwek reconstituted the "nomination committee" and the "renumeration committee" to a single "nomination & renumeration committee", to effectively "immobilise" the executive chairman.

Yeo was described as being on CDL's executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng's "side" in the dispute between him and his eldest son, Sherman Kwek.

Yeo's statement also criticised Sherman Kwek's performance, saying that the CDL CEO should focus on "making back the S$1.9 billion of shareholder losses through Sincere Properties, as well as the other losses from the UK property investments".

Make money for all CDL shareholders

The Straits Times reported that under Sherman Kwek, CDL acquired Chinese property Developer Sincere Property in May 2019 for S$1.1 billion.

The investment was CDL's single largest investment in China to that point but was written off after a year.

The write-off resulted in a S$1.78 billion reduction of CDL's assets on the balance sheet, and a net loss of S$1.9 billion in 2020.

Yeo accused Sherman of being more concerned about grievances and said he had mobilised a group of independent directors to remove Wu, an adviser to CDL's hospitality business.

Yeo noted that CDL's hospitality business had seen profit improvements over the past few years after Covid-19:

"The CDL CEO should work with the whole board to make money for all CDL shareholders."

ST also reported on a separate statement sent to media by Kwek Leng Beng, who stated that attempting to strip meaningful authority of the executive chairman was tantamount to a coup.

The elder Kwek said protecting the office of the executive chairman was necessary for good governance.

Background

Sherman Kwek and his father, Kwek Leng Beng, have been at odds over the past week.

The elder Kwek has accused his son of attempting to stage a coup, allegations which Sherman Kwek has rejected.

Sherman Kwek countered saying that it was extremely disappointing that CDL's chairman, Kwek Leng Beng, and a minority of CDL board members had taken "extreme actions" regarding their disagreement on the makeup of the CDL board.

On Feb. 26, the elder Kwek released a statement saying the two new independent directors at CDL would not exercise any powers as directors until further notice.

Sherman Kwek then issued a statement on Feb. 27, blaming Wu, a longtime adviser of Kwek Leng Beng, for the dispute with his father.

Sherman Kwek said the primary reason for the dispute was the "very serious issues of corporate governance within CDL group arising from the conduct of one Catherine Wu".

He accused her of "wielding and exercising enormous influence," interfering in matters well beyond her scope, something that troubled Sherman Kwek and his backers as directors.