Three Directors Resign from City Developments' Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Amid Family Dispute

Gate News message, April 22 — Three directors have resigned from Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, a UK-incorporated subsidiary of Singapore's City Developments Limited (CDL), marking the latest development in a family feud within the Kwek family, which controls the property developer. Jennifer Duong Young, Daniel Desbaillets, and Wong Ai Ai stepped down from the hotel unit's board after serving for just over a year.

The three were appointed in February 2025 as part of a six-director slate installed in a move widely seen as an attempt to dilute the influence of family patriarch Kwek Leng Beng, who chairs CDL. The appointments triggered a rare public clash within the family; Kwek Leng Beng accused his son and CEO Sherman Kwek of orchestrating a boardroom coup and sued Sherman and other directors, including the three who have now resigned. The patriarch later dropped the lawsuit and reconciled with his son after Catherine Wu, a key adviser to the patriarch, left the hotel unit. Sherman and other board members had sought to reduce Wu's influence by reshaping the boards of both the hotel subsidiary and the parent company.

CDL said the directors were stepping down "with this now largely addressed" and that the changes will not affect ongoing operations of the unit, which operates properties globally including The Biltmore Mayfair in London. The developer is set to announce findings of a strategic review by mid-2026 as it seeks to rebuild investor confidence, supported by Singapore's recovering property market.