CDL CEO Sherman Kwek ropes in legal heavyweight Davinder Singh to fight boardroom battle
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CDL CEO Sherman Kwek has roped in Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who will also represent the six board members in the CEO’s camp.
PHOTOS: CDL, KELVIN CHNG
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SINGAPORE – City Developments Limited (CDL) group chief executive Sherman Kwek has roped in Senior Counsel Davinder Singh to his team of lawyers as he faces his billionaire father Kwek Leng Beng in Singapore’s biggest boardroom battle in recent years, The Straits Times understands.
The senior Mr Kwek, who is CDL executive chairman, is seeking to remove his son as CEO over an “attempted coup”.
Mr Kwek, 84, has accused his son, 49, and six CDL board members of trying to take control of what was once Singapore’s largest listed developer.
Mr Sherman Kwek, in turn, has denied that he tried to oust his father.
Mr Singh – who will also represent the six board members in the CEO’s camp – is widely considered Singapore’s foremost litigator, having acted many times for the country’s then prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong in various civil proceedings.
He is head of his own self-named practice – Davinder Singh Chambers – and has taken on high-profile cases during his career, including defending the two prime ministers in court hearings.
He was the lead defence lawyer in a recent corruption case involving former transport minister S. Iswaran.
Mr Sherman Kwek and the six board members – Ms Jennifer Duong Young, Ms Wong Su-Yen, Mrs Wong Ai Ai, Mr Philip Lee, Ms Carolina Chan Swee Liang and Mr Desbaillets Daniel Marie Ghislain – will also be represented by one of Singapore’s oldest law firms, Lee & Lee, as earlier announced.
His father and three other board members are represented by LVM Law Chambers.
The Kwek clan shares a combined net worth of US$11.5 billion (S$15.5 billion). This makes Mr Kwek Leng Beng the fourth-richest man in Singapore, according to Forbes in 2024. Hong Leong Group, which belongs to the clan, holds around 49 per cent of CDL.
CDL was valued at $4.57 billion before trading was suspended on Feb 26. It is now valued at $4.47 billion, after its shares fell when trading resumed on March 3 following a three-day halt.
Prior to starting his own firm in 2019, Mr Singh worked at Drew & Napier for 37 years, rising to the position of CEO as well as executive chairman.
He represented Singapore Press Holdings in a 2005 lawsuit brought against the publisher by the then CEO of the National Kidney Foundation, Mr T.T. Durai, for defamation in an article stating he had a gold-plated tap installed in his office.
Mr Singh also acted for then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a defamation lawsuit brought against blogger Roy Ngerng in 2014, when the latter claimed that Central Provident Fund savings had been misappropriated.
Mr Singh is also the chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and a vice-chairman of the Paris-based ICC Commission on Corporate Responsibility and Anti-corruption.
CDL shares fell as much as 6.5 per cent to $4.79,
Many analysts remained cautious in their recommendation on concerns that the board discord
Brokers noted that there is a queue of punters waiting to “scoop up” the shares if prices head further south towards $4.
