Singapore’s billionaire Kwek Leng Beng to expand CDL’s hotel count to 500 globally

"My personal vision and dream is for our group to expand our portfolio to 500 hotels, with hundreds of our Singapore flags flying on our properties in key cities around the world," the billionaire told The Business Times.

Kwek Leng Beng, chairman of City Development Limited, at a press briefing with Las Vegas Sands Corp executives in Singapore 07 April 2006. Photo by AFP

CDL, which is listed on the Singapore Exchange, currently manages over 160 hotels.

Its subsidiary Millennium Hotels & Resorts oversees more than 145 hotels globally, with a total of 37,000 rooms.

Millennium Hotels & Resorts hotels serve both business and leisure travelers globally, employing around 6,000 staff.

Kwek described his 500-hotel goal as a long-term vision, acknowledging its ambition.

"We have expanded our global portfolio significantly over the years through strategic hotel management contracts and partnerships."

The 84-year-old property magnate said that Millennium Hotels & Resorts’ franchise partner in the Middle East operates over 50 hotels through management contracts, which means his company does not own any of the hotels.

In China, properties are also managed under contracts with third-party owners.

"We are not constrained by ownership structure – whether the hotels are owned, managed, or franchised – as long as they carry the Millennium Hotels & Resorts brand and meet our standards as part of our portfolio," Kwek said.

Last month, the group celebrated the grand opening of its M Social property in Penang, Malaysia.

Also last month CDL partnered with Lotte Hotel and Resorts, offering preferential rates to over four million MyMillennium members.

This followed a similar agreement with Germany’s Maritim Hotels, which operates over 30 properties across Germany and the E.U.

While no specific timeline exists for reaching the 500-hotel target, growth is expected in high-potential markets like South-east Asia and China.

However, Kwek stressed that the group’s vision "remains global in scope."

The expansion announcement follows months of tension at the property group that was sparked by a public clash between the chairman and his son, Sherman.

In late February, Leng Beng filed a lawsuit against his son Sherman, alleging that he had bypassed the firm's nomination committee to appoint two directors without proper vetting and implemented major changes to board committees and CDL's governance, according to Channel News Asia.

The conflict quickly escalated, with Sherman publicly blaming his father's long-time adviser, Catherine Wu, and Leng Beng pointing to what he called a "long series of missteps" by his son that had hurt the company's share price.

The lawsuit was dropped in March.