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Mon, Jan 4, 2021-9:09 am
UPDATED Monday, Jan 04, 2021-11: 36 am
A THIRD director of City Developments Limited (CDL) has resigned in recent months in connection with his investment in China-based real estate developer Sincere Property Group.
In a stock exchange presentation on Monday, CDL said independent non-executive director Tan Yee Peng “disagreed with the board and management on the handling of the investment after the acquisition.”
His resignation was effective on December 30.
Ms. Tan, 47, was appointed to her position in May 2014. She also served as chair of the sustainability committee of the CDL board and a member of the audit and risk committee, the nominating committee and the committee of board.
His departure came shortly after 70-year-old independent non-executive director Koh Thiam Hock similarly stepped down effective December 28, after more than four years on the group’s board. CDL said at the time that Koh believed it was “more appropriate for him to step down now as director” after sharing his observations, concerns and suggestions about the group’s investment in Sincere.
Last October, CDL’s former non-executive and non-independent director, Kwek Leng Peck, resigned after more than 30 years in office, in one of the most impressive corporate developments in the group’s history.
At the time, Mr. Kwek, 64, 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 group’s focus on managing its London-based wholly-owned Millennium & Copthorne Hotels unit, which he simultaneously stepped down as director. He is the cousin of CDL CEO Kwek Leng Beng and the uncle of CDL Group CEO and CEO Sherman Kwek, who is the son of Kwek Leng Beng.
CDL has appointed Philip Lee Jee Cheng to replace Ms Tan as an independent non-executive director, after taking into consideration his credentials and experience, he said. Mr. Lee, 60, will also take on additional roles as a member of the audit and risk committee, compensation committee and nominating committee.
According to the group, Mr. Lee has 35 years of accounting and finance experience. He was inducted into the society of KPMG Singapore in 1995, where he served until his retirement in September 2018. Mr. Lee was on the leadership team at KPMG Singapore and on the executive team at KPMG Asia Pacific. Other positions he held at KPMG Singapore include Head of Real Estate, Head of an Audit Business Unit and Head of Personnel.
His experience includes accounting and auditing, evaluation of controls and compliance, transaction services and assisting companies in preparing and raising funds from the capital markets, CDL said Monday. Mr. Lee is currently a member of the governing council of the Singapore Agri-Food Business Federation.
“The board looks forward to Mr. Lee’s contribution of skills and diversity to the current core competencies of the board,” added CDL.
Separately, CDL announced further changes to its board committees on Monday following Tan’s departure. Colin Ong has been appointed to the nominating committee, while Sherman Kwek has been appointed chairman of the board’s sustainability committee. Meanwhile, Daniel Marie Ghislain Desbaillets has been appointed to the sustainability committee of the board of directors and a member of the board of directors committee.
In a stock market filing on October 21, CDL noted that its investments in Sincere totaled about S $ 1.9 billion. These include a 51 percent joint venture equity investment in Sincere amounting to 4.4 billion yuan (S $ 896.8 million). It had also subscribed to bonds issued by Sincere worth $ 230 million and granted a working capital loan of 650 million yuan.
The investments also include a 1.5 billion yuan liquidity support commitment provided by CDL for Sincere’s bonds that matured on October 26, as well as a 1.5 billion yuan corporate guarantee in connection with an external bank loan obtained by Sincere.
Following Kwek’s resignation last year, the group appointed Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services to review its investment in Sincere. Subsequently, Deloitte “determined that there are good assets that the group can extract more value from,” CDL said.
As of 10.39 a.m. on Monday, CDL shares were trading at S $ 7.90, down S $ 0.07 or 0.9 percent.
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