How Kwek built the fortune
Kwek Leng Beng heads the Singapore branch of the Hong Leong Group, a business founded in 1941 by his father, Kwek Hong Png, together with his brothers. Kwek Hong Png had arrived in Singapore from Fujian province in China as a teenager and started by trading hardware and building materials. After the Second World War the group moved into property, finance and manufacturing, benefiting from Singapore's rapid economic growth after independence in 1965.
The group's property arm, City Developments Limited, known as CDL, became the core of the business. It built and sold homes, offices and shopping centres in Singapore and later bought hotels and properties abroad. Kwek Leng Beng took over as executive chairman of the Singapore group in 1990, following his father's retirement, and led CDL's expansion into a large international developer and hotel owner.
A defining move came in the 1990s, when CDL built a global hotel business. Through the London listed Millennium and Copthorne Hotels, the group acquired hotels in Britain, the United States, New Zealand and Asia, including well known properties in New York and London. In 2019 CDL took the hotel company private, buying out the minority shareholders. The value of the family's stake in CDL and its other listed companies accounts for most of its wealth.
Property in Singapore has been one of the most reliable ways to build wealth in Asia, because land is scarce and the government controls supply through land sales. CDL became a regular bidder for government land plots and a builder of condominiums for the city's growing middle class, while also keeping investment properties that produce rental income. Over time it widened its reach to China, Japan, Australia and Europe, sometimes buying office buildings and residential sites in London and other cities.
Companies and holdings
The main companies under Hong Leong Group Singapore include:
- City Developments Limited, one of Singapore's largest property developers, with residential, commercial and hotel assets in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States.
- Millennium and Copthorne Hotels, now a wholly owned part of CDL, with more than one hundred hotels worldwide.
- Hong Leong Finance, a financing and deposit taking company in Singapore.
- Industrial and trading businesses, including Hong Leong Asia, which has interests in building materials and diesel engines in China.
The group is separate from the Malaysian Hong Leong Group controlled by his cousin, Quek Leng Chan, although both trace their origins to the same family.
Early life and career
Kwek Leng Beng is the eldest son of Kwek Hong Png. He was educated in Singapore and studied law in London, qualifying as a barrister before returning home to join the family business. He spent his early career in the group's finance and property companies, learning the operations under his father.
He took on growing responsibility at CDL before succeeding his father at the head of the Singapore group. He has remained executive chairman of Hong Leong Group Singapore and chairman of CDL for more than three decades, making him one of the longest serving leaders of a major Singapore company. His son, Sherman Kwek, became chief executive of CDL in 2018.
Under his chairmanship CDL has gone through several property downturns, including the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the global financial crisis of 2008, and the group has generally kept a conservative balance sheet. Other members of the extended Kwek family also hold positions in Hong Leong companies, reflecting the family character of the group.
Philanthropy and public life
The family supports charity through the Hong Leong Foundation, which funds education, health care and community programmes in Singapore, and the Kwek family has donated to Singapore universities and hospitals. CDL also promotes sustainability in property development and publishes regular sustainability reports.
In February 2025 a dispute between Kwek Leng Beng and his son Sherman over board appointments at CDL became public when both sides filed lawsuits. The legal actions were withdrawn the following month after the family reached an understanding, with Sherman remaining chief executive. Outside this episode, Kwek is known for a reserved public profile, speaking mainly at company events and annual meetings.