From origins to turmoil: The CDL story
1963: City Developments Ltd (CDL) begins operations with eight staff in a small, rented office at Amber Mansions and was listed on the Malayan Stock Exchange in November 1963.
1966: The company completes its first Singapore condominium project, Clementi Park.
1969: Kwek Hong Png’s Hong Leong Group buys into CDL, and son Kwek Leng Beng takes a position on the board.
1972: Hong Leong Group acquires a controlling interest and starts to grow the business in property development. CDL makes its first foray into the hospitality industry with the acquisition of King’s Hotel.
1974: Hong Leong patriarch and founder Hong Png takes on chairmanship of CDL while Leng Beng is appointed managing director.
1995: CDL appoints Leng Beng as executive chairman, and Kwek Leng Joo as managing director.
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CDL Hotels and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud buy 80 per cent of New York’s iconic Plaza Hotel from Donald Trump for US$325 million.
1996: Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (M&C), a subsidiary of CDL Hotels International, lists on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
2013: The Plaza Hotel is sold to a consortium for US$675 million.
2016: Sherman Kwek is named deputy CEO while Yiong Yim Ming is appointed chief financial officer. Leng Beng’s nephew Kwek Eik Sheng is appointed head of asset management on top of being CDL’s chief strategy officer.
2017: Leng Beng retires from Hong Leong Asia (HLA). His cousin Kwek Leng Peck, then an executive director, succeeds him as executive chairman of HLA.
2018: Sherman takes on the role of CEO. He was earlier appointed as CEO-designate after CEO Grant Kelley tendered his resignation.
2019: M&C, which owns, manages and operates over 145 hotels globally, delists from the LSE in October following a successful privatisation.
2020: CDL struggles with its China expansion during the pandemic as a result of a deal with Chinese developer Sincere Property Group. The joint venture, spearheaded by Sherman in 2019, is said to have caused a rift within the family. In FY2020, the group wrote off S$1.78 billion on the investment and posted a net loss of S$1.9 billion.
Non-executive and non-independent director Leng Peck left the property giant in October, citing his disagreements with the board as well as management of the group’s investment in Sincere Property and of M&C.
2021: The company sells its stake in Sincere Property for US$1. The group posts an S$85 million (restated) net profit for FY2021.
2022: The group posts a record profit of S$1.3 billion in FY2022.
2023: CDL posts a 94.1 per cent drop in net profit to S$66.5 million for its first half ended Jun 30, 2023, from S$1.1 billion in the year-ago period. This was mainly due to the absence of significant divestment gains booked in H1 2022, as well as greater financing costs and impairment losses on its UK investment properties.
After the Sincere saga, Leng Beng meets Shanghai mayor Gong Zheng in China to discuss business issues and potential collaboration on sustainability projects.
2024: CDL acquires the Hilton Paris Opera hotel from Blackstone for 240 million euros (S$350.2 million).
The company celebrates its 60th anniversary, and posts a 32 per cent year-on-year rise in first-half net profit to S$87.8 million.
January 2025: CDL announces it had divested more than S$600 million in 2024 as part of its capital recycling initiative, including holdings in a Suzhou project.
February 2025: The company posts a profit of S$113.5 million for its second half ended Dec 31, down 54.7 per cent from S$250.8 million in the prior year. CDL abruptly calls off its FY2024 results briefing on the morning of Feb 26 and halts trading. News of the boardroom battle emerges with Leng Beng’s statement.
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