Singapore’s 4th richest billionaire Kwek Leng Beng receives $4.5M remuneration from CDL after boardroom feud with CEO son

This marked a 13.6% drop from S$6.91 million the year before, The Straits Times reported, citing the property developer’s annual report for the 2024 financial year released on April 8.

His son Sherman Kwek, the firm’s CEO, also saw his remuneration reduced by 15.4% to S$2.97 million for 2024. He also chose to forgo a long-term incentive grant of S$1.35 million.

In comparison, Sherman received S$3.52 million in compensation along with the S$1.35 million grant for FY2023, according to The Business Times.

These reductions came amid a slump in CDL’s performance. Its net profit slid by 36.6% year-on-year to S$201.3 million in 2024 while its revenues dropped by 33.8% to S$3.3 billion.

They also followed a drop in the company’s share price after a public dispute between Leng Beng and Sherman earlier this year.

Leng Beng previously filed a lawsuit against Sherman in late February, alleging that he bypassed the firm's nomination committee on a couple of occasions to change the board composition and made significant changes to committees and governance.

Public back-and-forth ensued, with Sherman pinning the blame on his father’s long-time adviser, Catherine Wu, and Leng Beng calling out his son’s "long series of missteps" that he believed caused CDL’s shares to lag behind those of its rivals.

Leng Beng withdrew the lawsuit on March 13, citing a unanimous decision among board members to set aside their differences in the interest of CDL and its stakeholders.

But the feud has weighed on the developer’s stock, which has declined by 12% this year and sank to a 16-year low of S$4.48 on April 8.

CDL has also lost its position as Singapore’s most valuable publicly traded property firm.

Leng Beng and his family have a combined net worth of US$11.5 billion, making him the city-state's fourth richest billionaire on Forbes' Singapore rich list last September.