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SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – Another City Developments Limited (CDL) board member has resigned citing concerns about the company’s investment in Sincere Property Group.
The resignation of independent non-executive director Koh Thiam Hock, 70, was announced in a late night presentation on Tuesday (December 29). He resigned with immediate effect as of December 28, after more than four years on the real estate giant’s board.
In its presentation, CDL said Koh believed it was “more appropriate for him to step down now as a director” after having shared his observations, concerns and suggestions about the group’s investment in Sincere.
Koh’s resignation comes shortly after the former non-executive and non-independent director, Kwek Leng Peck, abruptly resigned in October after more than 30 years in office. Kwek is the cousin of Kwek Leng Beng, the billionaire CEO of CDL who also runs the Hong Leong group of companies, and the uncle of CDL group CEO Sherman Kwek.
At the time, Mr. Kwek cited disagreements with the board over CDL’s investment in Sincere, as well as its continued provision of financial support to the Chinese real estate group. He also had reservations with the company’s focus on managing its London-based wholly owned unit, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, from which he simultaneously stepped down as director.
With the departure of Koh, CDL appointed Carol Fong, group CEO of CGS-CIMB Securities, as its new independent non-executive director effective December 29. She was also named a member of the remuneration committee of the company’s board of directors. .
CDL said it looked forward to Ms Fong’s “skills and diversity contribution” to the current core competencies of its board, in a separate presentation to the Singapore Stock Exchange later that night.
In addition, it announced a change in the composition of its board of directors and certain board committees following the resignation of Mr. Koh and the appointment of Ms. Fong. Effective December 29, Chong Yoon Chou and Colin Ong Lian Jin have been appointed as members of CDL’s audit, risk, and remuneration committees, respectively, while Philip Yeo has resigned as a member of the remuneration committee. Sherman Kwek Eik Tse has been appointed to the board committee.
CDL’s recent leadership changes come after the group’s decision to acquire a 51.01 percent stake in China-based real estate developer Sincere for 4.39 billion yuan (891.6 million Singaporean dollars) in April. Since then, the group has appointed Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services to conduct a review of its investment in Sincere. It says Deloitte has “found that there are good assets that the group can extract more value from.”
Shares of CDL were up 2 cents, or 0.25 percent, at $ 8.05 on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., following the announcement.
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