“The Chinese who left the mother country had to struggle, and that became a culture of its own, passed on… through each generation. Because we have no social security, the overseas Chinese habit is not to spend a lot and to make a lot of friends.” — Lee Shau-Kee
Lee Shau-Kee is a Hong Kong based real estate tycoon and majority owner of Henderson Land Development, a property conglomerate with interests in properties, hotels, restaurants and internet services. As of March 2015 according to Forbes, Lee is listed as the 27th richest person in the world. His personal wealth is estimated to be $24 billion and ranked as the second wealthiest man in Hong Kong.
He was the 4th world richest person in world before the handover of HK in 1997. Since 2006, Lee has accrued substantial profits from his holdings of Mainland-controlled stocks. This return on investment has earned him nicknames including “Hong Kong’s Buffett” and “Asia’s Master of Stock”. He is also affectionately known as “Uncle Four”, one of the very few fourth-born children in the world to have become a multi-billionaire.
Dr. Lee Shau Kee: Background & bio
Dr. Lee Shau Kee was born Jan. 29, 1928 in Shunde, Guangdong, China. After World War 2, Kee was looking to start up a business like many other people in Asia at the time. This is when he met up with a famous billionaire, Kwok Tak-Seng, and began putting the pieces in place for what would sooner or later become Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited.
Kee established himself in Hong Kong in his early times and has since been aggressively occupied in property expansion and other profitable businesses from the last 40 years. Lee is the founder of Henderson Land Development Company Limited and has been the Chairman and Managing Director of the Company since 1976.
Kee has made incredible contributions towards the support of Hong Kong’s financial opulence. His keen support has also been there to many major didactic and enlightening development projects both in Hong Kong and out of the country. The Chinese University of Hong Kong benefited enormously from the support and back-up given by Kee over the years.
Kee is the Chairman of Pei Hua Education Foundation Company Limited, and the Honorary Councilor of Rehabilitation International. Since 1977, Kee has been a Member of the then Advisory Board of the Three-year MBA Program and a Member on the Board of Trustees of the United College since 1988.
In 1993, the Chinese University conferred him with the honorary degree of Doctor of Social Science. Kee granted to the Chinese University generous donations in support of a variety of human resources progress and scholarly research programs. In 1991, Kee made the most big hearted contribution to support the CUHK-Yale South China Studies Program that provided fellowships for doctoral students and finances for charming experienced researchers and lectureships, built up library collections and research resources, and financed study projects and educational conferences.
The research program has enabled unbeaten partnership among Yale University and the Chinese University, enhanced the understanding of South China by practitioners in a variety of professions and the money-making segment, thereby contributing towards the continued expansion of Hong Kong and South China. In 1993, Dr. Lee Shau Kee was awarded of the title of Honorary Doctor of Social Sciences at the Chinese University.
Dr. Lee Shau Kee: Business
Sun Hung Kai Properties is a gigantic real estate developer on a great fraction of Asia. This led Kee to a lot of other ventures all the way through his life. Kee is the Vice Chairman Independent Non-Executive Director of SHKP. But his major calculating interests stretch out in the corporation he started fundamentally on his own that is Henderson Land Development. Kee founded this company and he has been the Chairman and Managing Director since 1976.
Henderson has interests in property expansion, speculation, building, hotel operation, economics, infrastructure, and a great deal extra. Amongst Henderson’s numerous advance projects, included are the International Finance Centre, the Grand Promenade and 39 Conduit Road. A not many years ago, Kee completed a huge shift in acquiring The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas), of that he is now the president. Towngas supplies 85%of households in Hong Kong with utilities, and is concerned in shared ventures with Mainland China dealing in drinking water and waste dumping.
Dr. Lee Shau Kee’s calculated trade moves are made probable as of his insightful business intellect. Kee is well-known in the Hong Kong commerce world for advising investors appropriately, and even outrageously warning people not to invest in his own companies if he feels they will not earn sizable profit.
But Kee thinks life-size. In 1963, he founded Sung Hung Kai Properties. Ten years later, his activities gained scale; he decided to reorganize the real estate corporation into a group with numerous activities, which was the birth of Henderson Land Development Company.
The most talked about business move of Kee was to relocate possessions to his family from China to Hong Kong prior to the beginning of communism. In 1948, he arrived in Hong Kong and originally worked in imports and exports then managed to embark into the real estate market. He founded, with other investors from Hong Kong, Eternal Enterprise Company, a real estate agent which allowed him to conclude his first deals. The group in 1981 made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The opulence of Dr. Lee Shau Kee accompanies the expansion of Hong Kong. He is a chief player in the regional financial system. His assemblage now owns the company Miramar Hotel & Investment Hotels. He is also a notable gas operator in Hong Kong & China Gas, as well as the ferry operator Hong Kong Ferry Company.
Kee, apart from a traditional financing enthusiast of Hong Kong, also chiefly invested in mines. H also worked in collaboration with Hong Kong Billaire, Cheng Yu-tung one of the foundation stone investors in the IPO of TSX-listed China Gold International Resources while it launched on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in late 2010. The plan of the listing was to lift finance for the acquisitions of Skyland Mining Ltd, which included a copper excavation in Tibet.
Quotes
“We are in turbulent times,”
“Paper money will suffer”
“We are in a time when paper investments are riskier than in the past. There is also a great amount of sovereign risk.”
“Gold is a kind of mortar and offers a form of capital preservation; we’re still bullish about gold,”
“There are some lights at the end of the tunnel. If political leaders in Europe can put things in order, things will be better. These days, much relies on politics.”
Dr. Lee Shau Kee: Articles
- Lee Shau-kee’s billions unlikely to rally Henderson Land
- The 20 Richest Real Estate Billionaires In The World
- How Many Of The World’s Richest Billionaires Are Still Entrepreneurs?
- Li Ka-shing Is Hong Kong’s Richest Man For 17th Consecutive Year
- Success Story of Lee Shau Kee – Success Stories
- Lee Shau-kee on biggest buying spree since 1993
- Tycoon Lee Shau-kee donates site for Hong Kong
- The Men Who Rule Hong Kong: Lee Shau-kee
- HK tycoon Lee Shau-kee sells major property, touts stock
- Lee Shau-kee plans to build cheap flats for youth
- HK tycoon’s son probed over surrogate triplets
- Lee Shau Kee will build ‘Youth HOS units’ in urban area
- Lee Shau Kee – Hong Kong’s Most popular Billionaire
- Property stocks are a better bet than property, says tycoon
- Think Mortar: Hong Kong Billionaire Lee Shau Kee
- Hong Kong’s Henderson Group Is a True Family Business
- Lee Shau Kee Says Territory Still Has Best Investing Value
- UPDATE: Li Ka-Shing, Lee Shau-Kee Each To Invest HK$1 Billion In AgBank IPO – Sources
- Lee Shau Kee exits Suntec Reit through placement
- Lee Shau-kee to invest US$100 mln in Longyuan Power
- Trouble in Hong Kong? Beijing summons tycoons
- Lee Shau-kee’s land bank could supply 45,000 new homes