AHEAD of the market open, ) on Monday (Mar 3) morning requested its trading halt to be lifted.
Shares of CDL closed at S$5.12 on Feb 25, before calling for a trading halt.
The property giant said its business operations “remain fully functional and unaffected”, and it is “business as usual.”
“Mr Sherman Kwek remains the group chief executive officer until such time as there is a board resolution to change company leadership,” it said in the statement.
CDL had called for a trading halt on Feb 26, which it said was in view of the disagreement within its board over the composition and constitution of the board, as well as its committees.
CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng said in a statement on Feb 26 that he had filed a court action to deal with an “attempted coup” by Sherman Kwek, Philip Lee, Wong Ai Ai and directors acting with them.
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He alleged this was orchestrated to consolidate control of the board and group by appointing two new directors and bypassing nomination procedures.
The elder Kwek wanted to remove his son Sherman Kwek as CDL’s group chief executive due to “serious lapses of corporate governance” laws.
He named his nephew – CDL’s chief operating officer Kwek Eik Sheng – as interim CEO “if and when Sherman is removed”, while the group hunts for a professional CEO to lead the company.
In a second statement later that day, the elder Kwek said the two new directors have agreed not to exercise their powers until further court notice.
Sherman Kwek subsequently issued a statement on behalf of the majority of CDL’s board, expressing his disappointment at his father’s “extreme actions”.
He claimed the recent board changes were not about ousting Kwek Leng Beng; instead, they were related to “a very serious issue of corporate governance” involving Dr Catherine Wu, who has a “long relationship with the chairman”.
In response, the elder Kwek said that Sherman Kwek’s denial of an attempt to oust him “misses the point”, while director Philip Yeo added that Sherman Kwek’s statement on Dr Wu was “an attempt to distract everyone from the matter at hand”.
Citing recent news reports, CDL noted that “various allegations have been made about this matter”.
The company said that it “will not comment on the validity of these allegations, as many of these allegations are the subject of the court proceedings which are ongoing”.
The conflict moves into Singapore’s Supreme Court on Mar 4, when a closed-door case conference will be heard.
In his suit filed in the High Court on Feb 25, Kwek Leng Beng named Sherman Kwek, Wong Su-Yen, Jennifer Duong Young, Carol Fong (also known as Carolina Chan), Daniel Marie Ghislain Desbaillets, Wong Ai Ai and Philip Lee as defendants.
Kwek Leng Beng, CDL, and directors Yeo, Colin Ong and Chong Yoon Chou were the applicants.
The five applicants are represented by lawyers from LVM Law Chambers, a law firm led by Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming. The defendants are represented by a Lee & Lee team led by Julian Tay.
