CDL Files REIT IPO To Soothe Frayed Nerves Over Failed Chinese Bet

City Developments Limited (CDL) has filed a plan to list its UK commercial assets in REIT in Singapore. 

No further details were given though media reports suggest the public float could raise up to GBP 500 million (USD 693 million) and potentially include the London headquarters of HSBC. 

The Singapore real estate giant, owned by one of the country’s richest families, has said there is no certainty that an IPO will even take place. 

CDL has come under scrutiny for its investment in beleaguered China’s Sincere Property Group that has dragged the company into the red and ignited a very public rift in the Kwek dynasty. 

In October 2020, second generation Kwek Leng Peng had quit the board of CDL, a business he had a hand in since 1987, due to disagreements regarding the Sincere Property Group investment and management of M&C Hotels. 

The disagreements pitted him against chosen third generation successor Sherman Kwek, CDL group CEO and son of his more famous cousin Kwek Leng Beng.