CDL shares recover after Kwek Leng Beng drops lawsuit against son Sherman Kwek

Shares of City Developments Limited (CDL) jumped more than 4 per cent in early trading on March 13, after tycoon Kwek Leng Beng said on the night of March 12 that he will drop the lawsuit against his son Sherman Kwek and other directors of the company.

- Sue-Ann Tan and Colin Tan

The counter climbed 4.66 per cent to an intra-day high of $5.17 at 10.23am before ending trading at $5.09, up 15 cents or 3.04 per cent from the previous day's close of $4.94. A total of 5.67 million shares worth $29 million were traded.

This restored the share price to where it was before the saga of a battle between the father and son over control of CDL came to light on Feb 26. Trading was also suspended then.

The older Mr Kwek said he had filed court papers to address the "attempted coup" by his son, who is group chief executive.

CDL's shares in the following days dropped to a low of $4.93 on March 11.

But in a surprise move on March 12, the older Mr Kwek said he had decided to drop the lawsuit, which was intended to stop his son and majority directors of CDL from implementing a number of board resolutions.

The lawsuit was also filed to restrain two newly appointed independent directors from exercising their powers.

He added that he will continue in his role as executive chairman, and his son will continue as group CEO.