From left: Sherman Kwek and Kwek Leng Beng.
City Developments
This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Singapore’s Richest 2025. See the full list here.
Earlier this year, property magnate Kwek Leng Beng, 84, took his son Sherman, 49, to court over what appeared to be a battle for control of their family’s crown jewel, City Developments Ltd. (CDL).
News of the lawsuit, which accused Sherman, CDL’s CEO, of appointing two directors to the board without their names being vetted by the nominations committee, sent the company’s shares tumbling to their lowest level in over two decades. Kwek, the executive chairman subsequently withdrew the case and in an August earnings briefing, attended by both father and son, emphasized, “We have put past issues behind us, emerging stronger and more unified.”
CDL’s shares have climbed back amid moves to prune the company’s S$13 billion ($10 billion) debt. In June, it agreed to sell its 50.1% stake in South Beach, a mixed-use development in Singapore’s central business district, for S$834 million to its partner in the project, IOI Properties, a company controlled by Malaysian billionaire brothers Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng. “There’s a pipeline of more divestments to come,” disclosed Sherman at the earnings meet.