A4 Saturday, July 14, 2012 FOCUS Breaking with the old ways With Thomas and Raymond Kwok having been charged by the ICAC, the family has been forced to give its third generation more control of Sun Hung Kai Properties, naming two youngsters as alternate directors Well-known ...................................................... face in HK the board of a Hong Kong company, Peggy Sito and Sandy Li but she became the chairman and non-executive director of the city’s securities largest real-estate developer in May Once seen as being unprepared for 2008, partly as a result of the a family command of Hong Kong’s largest feud that led to the ousting of her son charged property developer, the third genera- Walter Kwok as chairman and chief tion of the Kwok family has finally executive. ...................................................... been entrusted with the task of con- The boardroom battle is without Peggy Sito trolling Sun Hung Kai Properties. precedent in Hong Kong’s recent [email protected] Sun Hung Kai Properties last corporate history in terms of dra- night announced that it had appoint- ma, intrigue and acrimony. ed the two sons of the billionaire co- In October 2010, Sun Francis Kwan Hung-sang, one of the chairmen – Thomas Kwok Ping- Hung Kai Properties issued five suspects to be charged by the In- kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping- an announcement, on be- dependent Commission Against luen – as alternate directors. half of Kwong, that excluded Corruption in the Sun Hung Kai As part of the reorganisation, Walter Kwok in a reorganisat- Properties probe, is a familiar figure Mike Wong Chik-wing and Victor Lui ion of the family trusts that in the city’s stock and futures broker- Ting, who have each served the hold in the empire. A third of age community. group for more than 30 years, have the shareholding of the trust is Kwan, 61, was yesterday charged also been promoted to deputy man- now held for the benefit of “Wal- by the anti-graft body over alleged of- aging directors. ter Kwok’s family”, rather than fences linked to bribery and miscon- “These changes will further Walter Kwok and his family. Walter’s duct in public office. strengthen our corporate gover- younger brothers, Thomas Kwok and “He is a close friend of Rafael Hui,” nance structure and will ensure that Raymond Kwok, are each beneficia- said a source familiar with the matter. the company continues to develop The matriarch of the company, ries of a third of the trust along with Kwan has been involved in bank- steadily,” Thomas Kwok said last Kwong Siu-hing (left); her son, their families. ing, investment and exchange opera- night. Raymond Kwok, leaving Eastern In December of last year, Kwong tions in Hong Kong for more than 30 The boardroom reorganisation Court in Sai Wan Ho yesterday. stepped down as the chairman and years and joined the Hong Kong Fu- came on the same day the two co- Photos: David Wong; Sam Tsang non-executive director. Thomas and tures Exchange in May 1995. Three chairmen were charged with bribery Raymond became joint chairmen. years later he was promoted to be- and misconduct by the Independent The fallout among the Kwok come chief operations officer of that Commission Against Corruption, the company’s business, for years,” said brothers – Thomas, Raymond and exchange, which in 2000 merged anti-graft agency. Their eldest broth- a source close to the family. Walter – has now been further com- with the Stock Exchange of Hong er, Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, was ar- “They are smart and hard work- plicated by the fact that all three have Kong, and together with Hong Kong rested early in May by the ICAC but ing,” the source said. “They have been arrested by the ICAC. In early Securities Clearing Company formed was not charged yesterday and was been learning for several years about May, two months after his younger Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing. released on bail. how to run the company. brothers were arrested, Walter Kwok Kwan was head of the group risk The charges have raised concerns “Thomas and Raymond are not was detained in relation to the same management division at Hong Kong about succession planning at SHKP, going to let their sons take over the case. Exchanges and Clearing before leav- where members of a new generation company. They are still young. They In an interview with the South ing it on April 1, 2004, according to a –the three brothers have 10 children – need to be trained. China Morning Post in early May, spokesperson for the exchange. are now poised to take over, albeit “They will come back to the office Walter Kwok said that his mother was gradually. every day to keep the company run- seldom involved in the company’s Adam Kwok Kai-fai, 29, and ning smoothly.” business. Edward Kwok Ho-lai, 31, were ap- To strengthen investor confi- “She is just a housewife,” he said. pointed as alternate directors to dence, Raymond Kwok said the busi- “My mother has not been in- Thomas Kwok and Raymond Kwok ness strategy of SHKP remained un- volved in the company’s business. respectively. changed. Only when the three of us had argu- Adam is the eldest son of Thomas “We will continue to uphold and ments did she offer an opinion.” Kwok and Edward is a son of Ray- Thomas and strengthen our brand, relying on our In the interview, Walter Kwok also mond Kwok. quality buildings and service to win challenged his mother’s power to re- But the reorganisation did not Raymond are not the support of the market. Our busi- move him as a beneficiary of the fam- mention Walter Kwok’s two sons, ness decisions will continue to be ily trust that controls the Sun Hung Geoffrey and Jonathan. They are also going to let their guided by the interests of Hong Kai Properties empire. beneficiaries of the family trust that sons take over the Kong’s development, our company, But a source close to the company controls SHKP. shareholders and employees,” Ray- said that Kwong was greatly involved Geoffrey, 26, is studying for a mas- company. They are mond Kwok said. in Sun Hung Kai Properties’ business ter’s degree at Stanford University “There is a Chinese saying: sturdy after Kwok Tak-seng’s death. after working briefly for SHKP. Geof- still young grass is only revealed by strong Kenny Tang Sing-hing, general frey’s younger brother, Jonathan, is winds. Challenges will only make us manager of AMTD Financial Plan- A SOURCE CLOSE TO SHKP studying in New York, and his sister stronger and I will cope with this ning, said: “In the next few years, I be- works in Singapore. challenge with perseverance.” lieve the company’s business will Apart from Adam, Thomas Kwok Adam Kwok holds a bachelor’s de- Thomas Kwok said: “History tells continue to grow due to its quality has another son and a daughter who gree in management science and us that perseverance and faith can assets.” are still in secondary school. His eld- engineering from Stanford and a take us through the rough times. The company will run smoothly est daughter is married and no longer master’s degree from Harvard Busi- “With this faith, I am facing this provided the mother stays in the pic- works outside the home, a family as- ness School. He worked in an inter- challenge with no fear. ture, and the anti-corruption investi- Francis Kwan sociate said. national investment bank prior to He also said his religious beliefs gation result is not too serious, ac- A source said Raymond has an- joining the group in November 2008, had helped him. cording to Tang. other son, Christopher, who works and currently is a project manager “I am grateful that as a Christian, In a recent research report, Daiwa After leaving, Kwan ran a com- for an investment bank and also runs taking charge of key residential and my faith gives me hope, peace and Capital Markets said shares of Sun pany called USP Enterprise, which a restaurant, while his daughter commercial projects in Hong Kong joy. The Bible’s teachings act like a Hung Kai Properties might fall 20 per sells supplement products aimed at works for an American retailer. and the Pearl River Delta region. beacon, guiding me through the cent further in a worst-case scenario preventing drunkenness. “We hope the reorganisation of Edward Kwok is the son of Ray- darkness and anchoring each phase resulting from the anti-corruption Kwan served as an independent the board members will give inves- mond Kwok and holds a Bachelor of of my life.” investigation into the billionaire non-executive director of New Envi- tors a clear and transparent picture of Arts from Yale and a postgraduate di- Another senior executive said: Kwok brothers. ronmental Energy Holdings from how the company will move for- ploma in professional accountancy “Even if the two chairmen could not That worst-case scenario would June 15, 2006, to April 25, 2012. He ward,” said the source, who is close to from Chinese University. His profes- run the company, in a worst-case occur if new and more serious served as an independent non-exec- the company. sional qualifications include being a scenario, Kwong Siu-hing, the matri- charges were raised against the utive director of Tianjin Port Devel- According to the announcement, member of the Hong Kong Institute arch of the Kwok family, could still brothers by the Independent Com- opment Holdings from September 8, of Certified Public Accountants and look after things.