The subsequent statement shook Corporate Singapore: Kwek Leng Beng, CDL’s executive chairman, said he is taking his son, group CEO Sherman Kwek, and a group of other directors to court for trying to “circumvent” good governance and for an “attempted coup”.
For City Developments, Feb 26 was supposed to be an eventful day, as it was scheduled to announce its FY2024 results. The market was expecting a softer set of numbers, no thanks to persistently-high interest costs that affected all property players.
At 8.02am, just half an hour after the FY2024 results were released on the SGX website, CDL called for a trading halt. This was unusual as results are typically released before market trading begins so that investors have time to react. At 8.34am, CDL issued a terse announcement cancelling the 10am briefing — catching its own employees setting up the venue at M Hotel by surprise.
