Singapore’s 4th richest man Kwek Leng Beng’s son blames father’s adviser Catherine Wu for boardroom dispute at CDL

By Minh Hieu February 27, 2025 | 08:26 pm PT

Kwek Leng Beng (R), City Developments Limited's executive chairman, and his long-time adviser, Catherine Wu, at the GEEKCON 2024 International. Photo from GEEKCON's website

Sherman Kwek, son of billionaire Kwek Leng Beng and group CEO of property giant City Developments Limited, said his father’s adviser, Catherine Wu, is the source of the ongoing boardroom conflict at the firm.

"The primary reason for the dispute relates to a very serious issue of corporate governance within the CDL group arising from the conduct of one Dr Catherine Wu," Sherman, 49, said in a Thursday statement cited by The Straits Times.

The dispute refers to his father’s lawsuit against him and a group of CDL board members and directors over alleged governance lapses and an "attempted coup" to consolidate control of the company’s board.

"(She) has been interfering in matters going well beyond her scope, and she wields and exercises enormous influence," Sherman explained, noting that this concerns him and other directors.

He added that efforts to handle matters sensitively were unsuccessful due to Wu’s "long relationship" with his father, the CDL’s 84-year-old executive chairman.

Wu, 65, serves as an adviser to the board of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, a subsidiary of CDL. She is also known to have been a personal assistant to Leng Beng, according to a 2018 employment tribunal document filed in London seen by The Business Times. She was not an employee and was compensated directly by the billionaire.

Sherman’s group proposed a resolution to terminate the advisory agreement that Wu has with the board of M&C, and another to affirm that she has no power and authority, among other things, to influence or advise the directors, management and staff of the CDL and M&C groups. Both were passed by the majority of the board on Feb. 21.

"We considered them to be necessary to protect the interests of the shareholders and relevant staff of the CDL group, and to restore proper corporate governance and accountability," he said.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday, Leng Beng accused the group of bypassing the nomination committee to appoint new directors without proper review and making significant changes to board committees and company governance.

Following a closed-door court hearing on Wednesday, the new directors and Sherman’s group agreed not to take more actions until further court notice.

Sherman has maintained that the board changes were not intended to remove the chairman but were made in the company’s best interest.