Dispute Over Appointment of CDL Directors Continues to Cast Shadow Over Company

Philip Yeo Emphasises Importance of Unanimity Among Board Members at AGM

- Angela Tan

The appointment of two independent directors earlier in 2025, which played a key role in a recent public spat between the father-and-son team in charge of City Developments Limited (CDL), continued to cast a shadow on the firm.

At the hotel and property group's annual general meeting on April 23, Mr Philip Yeo, a CDL board member since 2009 and a respected veteran civil servant who has served on many boards, voiced his unhappiness over how Ms Jennifer Duong Young and Ms Wong Su-Yen were appointed.

"I am very unhappy... I am very disappointed over the way the two new directors were appointed," said a clearly agitated Mr Yeo, who added that there was no reason for the hasty appointments at a time when the nominating committee chair, Mr Chong Yoon Chou, had to rush to Malaysia to tend to his sick father.

"So, therefore, I am of the view that the two directors should not be appointed," he said.

Billionaire property tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, 84, who is executive chairman of CDL, had in February accused his son Sherman Kwek, 49, the firm's chief executive officer, and a group of directors of an attempted coup to oust him.

Mr Sherman Kwek has denied any attempt to oust the chairman. Instead, he blamed Dr Catherine Wu - who has a long relationship with his father - for the dispute, as she "wields and exercises enormous influence".