City Developments (CDL) is aiming to “monetise” all assets in its UK development platform by the end of the year, announced CEO Sherman Kwek at the group’s results briefing on Feb 27. After two assets were sold in 2024 and 2025, five properties remain with a carrying value of some $800 million as at end-2025.
This marks a reversal from the group’s decision to be more present in the UK. At CDL’s FY2023 briefing on Feb 28, 2024, chairman Kwek Leng Beng said the UK had “a lot of potential” and that the group “should be present there and be more active”.
At the time, the elder Kwek believed that demand for offices in the country would start to stabilise and strengthen over time.
Some two years later, the younger Kwek says the UK “underperformed” and the group is looking to “recycle this as soon as we can”.
Noting that the group’s entry into the UK was “before [his] time”, the younger Kwek says CDL had to engage an external manager then as it had no presence in the UK.
That development platform has grown and shrunk over the years. Today, the five properties in the platform are a carpark at 28 Pavilion Road, Knightsbridge, acquired in 2013; Stag Brewery at Mortlake, acquired in 2015; office building Development House in Shortditch, acquired in 2016; residential development Teddington Riverside in Richmond upon Thames, acquired in 2015 and launched in 2018; and the six-unit Chesham Street in Belgravia.
See also: Streetscapes: Modernising Lentor
As at end-2025, 148 units at the 224-unit Teddington Riverside remain unsold, while three of the six units at Chesham Street remain unsold.
According the the younger Kwek, CDL is exploring options including bulk sales for Teddington Riverside.
Some other properties in the platform have since been divested. Ransome’s Wharf was divested in 2025 for GBP69.1 million ($115.3 million). CDL had purchased the prime freehold site in 2017 for GBP58 million, or $103.4 million.
See also: Frasers Property poised for rejuvenation of Centrepoint after buying 'rear plot' for $391.9 mil
At the time, CDL said it planned to redevelop the site into a luxury residential project with an estimated gross development value of GBP222 million.
Meanwhile, Sydney Street, a residential development in Chelsea, was fully sold for GBP46.1 million in 2024.
As at 11.52am, shares in CDL are trading 30 cents higher or 3.21% up at $9.66.
