CDL shares surge over 6% after Philip Yeo exits board

Shares of City Development Limited (CDL) rose more than 6 per cent on Wednesday (Jul 16), after the property conglomerate said on Tuesday evening that Philip Yeo will be retiring.

Yeo had served on CDL’s board for 16 years since May 2009, and “has given notice of his retirement as a non-independent non-executive director of CDL”. He had backed executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng in his boardroom battle against his son, chief executive officer Sherman Kwek, earlier this year.

As at 9.01 am, the group’s shares were up 4.1 per cent at S$5.80, before hitting an intra-day high of S$5.95 by 9.41 am, up 6.8 per cent.

The price dipped to S$5.88 as at 9.50 am, before rising to trade 6.5 per cent or S$0.36 higher at S$5.93 as at 2.13 pm, after 7.2 million securities changed hands.

The departure of Yeo comes three months after CDL’s annual general meeting (AGM), when he vocally rallied shareholders against “bullying” by majority directors.

He had openly urged shareholders at the AGM to reject the re-election of four directors, comprising two new appointees Jennifer Young and Wong Su Yen, and two independents Daniel Desbaillets and Wong Ai Ai.

Yeo’s objections centred on governance lapses, notably that Young and Wong Su Yen’s appointments on Feb 7 bypassed the nominating committee – a key point in the elder Kwek’s original lawsuit against CEO Sherman Kwek, which erupted on Feb 26.

The CDL feud began to subside after a major turning point on Mar 4, when the property giant announced the “irrevocable resignation” of Catherine Wu as an unpaid independent adviser to CDL’s hotel arm, Millennium & Copthorne Hotels. Wu’s long relationship with Kwek Leng Beng had caused the rift within the CDL group.

Yeo, 78, was the former executive chairman and subsequently executive co-chairman of Economic Development Board between 1986 and 2006. He was also formerly a special adviser for economic development in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2007 to 2011. After exiting CDL’s board, Yeo will remain on the board of 20 other companies, including IndoFood Agri Resources, QAF and Sunway.