CDL’s Kwek Leng Beng paid nearly $6m, son Sherman received almost $3m in 2024

SINGAPORE – The chief executive of City Developments Limited (CDL) and his father both received lower compensation in 2024, following

a boardroom feud

that led to a decline in the property developer’s share price.

Group chief executive officer Sherman Kwek voluntarily elected to forgo his long-term incentive grant of $1.35 million for 2024, resulting in total remuneration of $2.97 million for the year, down 15.4 per cent from the $3.52 million he received in 2023, according to CDL’s 2024 annual report released on April 8.

His fixed salary accounted for 33.3 per cent of his total compensation, while short-term incentives accounted for 59.6 per cent. Board and committee fees constituted 4.2 per cent and the remaining comprised other benefits.

Mr Sherman Kwek’s father, CDL executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng, received $5.97 million in total compensation for 2024, a decrease of 13.6 per cent from $6.91 million in 2023.

This came after CDL’s net profit for 2024 sank to $201.3 million from $317.3 million in 2023, while revenue tumbled to $3.3 billion in 2024, from $4.9 billion in 2023.

Earlier in 2025, Mr Kwek Leng Beng and Mr Sherman Kwek

were embroiled in a boardroom tussle

which saw the billionaire patriarch accuse his son of orchestrating an alleged coup to oust him – a move the younger man denied. Instead, the son

blamed his father’s partner, Dr Catherine Wu,

for causing the rift.

She had served as a director at Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), the hotel arm of Mr Kwek Leng Beng’s business empire.

Her services were terminated in January 2024, but she returned to M&C’s board as an adviser seven months later.

In early March 2025, she

resigned as an unpaid adviser to M&C.

The public spat has taken a toll on CDL shares, which hit a 16-year low of $4.48 on April 8.