City Developments Limited
City Developments Limited, sometimes also known as CityDev, is a Singaporean multinational real estate operating organisation. Founded in 1963, CDL first developed projects in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, as well as in Singapore. However, due to the racial and political situation in Singapore and Malaysia, CDL was forced to sell its properties in Johor Bahru and consolidate itself into the Singapore market. CDL came under the control of Hong Leong Bank via shares acquisition in 1969. Since then, CDL has developed numerous types of properties from shopping malls to integrated developments.
CDL is currently headquartered in Republic Plaza, Singapore. Kwek Leng Beng is its current chairman and Sherman Kwek, Kwek Leng Beng's son, is its current chief executive officer. CDL also owns many subsidiaries, including Millennium & Copthorne Hotels.
History
Early years
City Developments Limited was founded on 7 September 1963 as a property company, initially starting with eight employees in Amber Mansions on Orchard Road. The company subsequently listed on the Malayan Stock Exchange in November of the same year.When the company first started, it built its first project in Johor Bahru, Malaysia; a 200-unit bungalow development called Fresh Breezes, which was completed in 1965. With Fresh Breezes, CDL introduced the concept of a "show house" as a sales technique, which was "believed to be unique in Asia". It allows prospective buyers to preview how a property looks like before buying the property. It built its second project in Johor Bahru called Marine Vista, a project that has expansive views of the Straits of Johor. CDL built its first Singapore project called City Towers in Bukit Timah, which was completed in 1966. This was said to be Singapore's first high-rise project. It also built Singapore's first condominium concept project, Clementi Park, in the same year.
Acquisition by Hong Leong
CDL was unprofitable for its first seven years' of operations, with the race riots in 1969 and withdrawal of British troops from Singapore, which affected the property markets in Malaysia and Singapore. Thus, CDL was forced to sell its properties in Johor Bahru and consolidated itself into the Singapore market. Hong Leong Group began to invest in CDL in 1969, buying a substantial stake which allowed them to place three directors on CDL's board. In 1972, Kwek Leng Beng, then an executive in Hong Leong Group, led an acquisition of a controlling stake in CDL, transforming CDL into the core publicly traded entity of Hong Leong Group.Kwek Leng Beng later became the managing director of CDL in 1974, and the executive chairman in 1995 after the death of his father, Kwek Hong Png. Kwek Leng Joo, the younger brother of Kwek Leng Beng, became the managing director. Capitalising on the strong economic growth which transformed Singapore into an industrialised nation, CDL grew rapidly with a market capitalisation of in 1995. Its flagship building, Republic Plaza, was officially opened on 18 January 1998 by then Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong.
With Hong Leong Group's investments into CDL, CDL's industrial properties was offloaded into Hong Leong Holdings, a subsidiary of Hong Leong Group. It then diversified into hospitality industry through the establishment of CDL Hotels International in 1989. CDLHI acquired hotel properties across Asia, Europe, and United States. Leveraging on the Millennium and Copthorne brands, CDL listed Millennium & Copthorne Hotels on London Stock Exchange in 1996. More hotel properties and brands were acquired and consolidated under M&C. M&C also would come to manage hotels owned by other firms across the world. As part of a restructuring exercise in 1999, CDLHI renamed to City e-Solutions Limited in 2000 with a focus on CDL's efforts to develop hospitality related internet businesses and other e-commerce business initiatives in various industries.
21st century
During the 2008 financial crisis, of which Singapore was affected, its financial performance was affected by its exposure to the Sterling Pound, as the Singapore dollar had strengthened against it, via its United Kingdom-centric M&C. However, it managed to remain one of the largest real estate development firms in Singapore post recession.In 2014, CDL appointed Grant Kelley into the newly created chief executive officer role, capitalising on Kelley's prior international experience. The managing director role was abolished as well, and Kwek Leng Beng became a deputy chairman. Under Kelley's leadership, CDL diversified its operations away from the Singapore market, focusing on the Australian, Chinese, Japanese and British markets. At the same time in 2015, Sherman Kwek, the elder son of Kwek Leng Beng was appointed as a deputy CEO as part of the Kwek family's succession plan in CDL management. In 2018, Sherman Kwek became the chief operating officer.
In June 2019, M&C's board agreed to recommend a takeover offer, valuing the business at £2.23 billion, from CDL for the shares it did not already own. The transaction became unconditional in September 2019. M&C was delisted from LSE on 11 October, and effectively making M&C a full subsidiary of CDL.
In May 2019, CDL made further investments into China with a 24% share acquisition of Sincere Property Group with a RMB 2.75 billion loan and a further RMB 2.75 billion tranche. In April 2020, CDL renegotiated with Sincere to increase its shareholding in Sincere to 51.01% of its shares for a further RMB 4.39 billion due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This brought the total investments by CDL up to SGD 1.8 billion. However, new pending regulatory changes in China introduced in August 2020, to limit the amount of debt owed by real estate companies, lead to concerns on Sincere's liquidity position by CDL. At end of 2019, Sincere's liability made up of 68% of its assets, close to the 70% ceiling in the pending regulations.
On 22 October 2020, its announced that Kwek Leng Peck, a cousin of Kwek Leng Beng and a longstanding director resigned in disagreement with CDL's board on the investments into Sincere, and its management of M&C. By 30 December 2020, disagreements over the Sincere investments led to the further resignations of another two independent directors. A working group was established within CDL to directly oversee and improve on Sincere's liquidity and profitability. On 26 February 2021, CDL wrote down 93% of its investments, SGD 1.78 billion, for its 2020 fiscal year. In March 2021, Sincere missed a repayment on the principal of a bond, which it alleged that due to key matters requiring CDL's approval, causing Sincere to miss the repayment deadline. CDL refuted the claim, stating that the key decisions are jointly agreed upon and it does not have majority control of the board.
In 2024, the company is acquiring Yardhouse in central London for $148.6 million for a 250-year lease and is CDL's first project in the private rented sector in this location. The site will include a 17-storey apartment block and a 7-storey block next to the site for Women's Pioneer Housing, a not-for-profit organization providing single women with access to safe, secure and affordable housing and services.
2025 boardroom dispute
On 26 February 2025, Kwek Leng Beng accused his son, Sherman Kwek, of orchestrating a boardroom coup. Kwek claimed that Sherman attempted to push through the appointment of two new independent directors without full board approval, despite a written resolution which formalised their appointments. Kwek also accused Sherman for restructuring the board committees and governance framework, in an attempt to bypass the company's nomination committee. In response, Kwek Leng Beng had sought to remove his son on 8 February, and proceeded to file court papers seeking to "restore corporate integrity". Kwek expressed intentions to replace the CEO "at the appropriate time".The boardroom dispute broke out after the company announced a 37% drop in its net profit from the previous year to S$201.3 million. The dispute led to a temporary suspension of trading for CDL shares, though the company's business operations continued as usual. Some analysts, such as JP Morgan and OCBC Investment Research, have downgraded the company's stock due to uncertainties regarding the company's outlook and potential share price overhang. Despite being part of the same conglomerate with CDL, Hong Leong Asia said the dispute has no impact on Hong Leong Asia's business.
Sherman Kwek expressed "disappointment" with his father's actions as "extreme" and argued that the legal move was not authorised by the majority of the board. He defended the new appointments, stating they were made "to strengthen CDL’s board" and emphasized that the changes were "never about ousting our esteemed chairman". Sherman accused his father's associate, Catherine Wu, as the source of a dispute and claimed she wielded "huge influence" in matters "beyond her scope". In response, Sherman proposed a resolution which affirmed that Wu has no authority to influence or advise CDL and M&C directors, management, or staff, and another resolution which terminate the advisory agreement with M&C, where Wu is a board adviser. The resolutions were passed with a board majority on 21 February.
Wu resigned as independent adviser to the M&C board on 4 March. Kwek Leng Beng dismissed his son's insinuations against Wu as "unproven" and stated that with her resignation, his son's directors no longer had grounds to make corporate governance allegations against CDL or justify the board coup. On 12 March, Kwek announced his decision to withdraw the lawsuit against the board resolutions. He cited the board members' agreement to "put aside their differences" for the "greater good" of CDL and its stakeholders. Jennifer Duong Young and Su Yen Wong, who were appointed as directors, will remain on the CDL board. CDL shares increased by more than 3% following the news.