(Bloomberg) -- The scion of Singapore’s richest real estate clan denied his father’s claim that he was leading a boardroom coup, saying the primary reason for the family dispute lies with a key adviser to the billionaire patriarch.
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“There has been no attempt by us to oust the chairman,” Sherman Kwek, chief executive officer of City Developments Ltd. said in a statement late Thursday, referring to his father. “The chairman’s claim that there is an ‘attempted coup’ by the majority directors to consolidate control of CDL’s board is not only incorrect, it distracts from the nub of the issue.”
Sherman Kwek’s response escalates the feud that’s roiled Singapore’s wealthiest clan after his father Kwek Leng Beng filed a lawsuit claiming his son and other directors were leading a boardroom coup and accused them of serious lapses in corporate governance.
In particular, the elder Kwek objected to the appointment of two directors who were added to the board this month without going through the typical nomination process, according to his statement this week.
The worsening tit-for-tat has plunged Singapore’s largest listed developer into crisis, sparking a rare succession battle in the city-state. Shares of the $3.4 billion firm, already suffering from a major drop in profits, remain suspended, and have been downgraded by firms including JPMorgan Chase & Co.
In his latest salvo, Sherman Kwek accused the elder Kwek of being influenced by Catherine Wu, an adviser to the board of the firm’s hotel subsidiary whose conduct raises “a very serious issue of corporate governance.”
“She has been interfering in matters going well beyond her scope, and she wields and exercises enormous influence,” he said. “Due to her long relationship with the chairman, efforts that were made to manage the situation were done sensitively, but to no avail.”
Representatives for Wu couldn’t be reached for comment while those for the elder Kwek didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment after business hours.
Sherman Kwek said that a majority of directors passed resolutions on Feb. 21 to terminate Wu’s advisory agreement and to affirm that she “has no power and authority” to influence the boards, management and staff of CDL and its hotel unit, to “restore proper corporate governance and accountability.”