Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Sun Hung Kai Properties



Kwok Family



Imogene Wong

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

The matriarch who controls Sun Hung Kai Properties offloaded billions of dollars worth of shares in Asia's largest developer, fueling speculation of a further distribution of family wealth.


Kwong Siu-hing, 83, now owns 30.79 percent of SHKP, down from 43.43 percent, with the reduction of 338 million shares on Friday.

No selling price was disclosed. But according to yesterday's closing price of HK$99.20, the 337.76 million shares are worth HK$33.53 billion.



Also on Friday, two of Kwong's sons - SHKP co-chairmen Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping- luen - rejigged their stakes in the company. But after the exercise, each brother's holding in the developer was unchanged.

A spokesman for the developer, the world's second-largest by market capitalization, declined to comment. A possible transfer of Kwong's shares to the children of Thomas and Raymond cannot be ruled out.



But the stake of her oldest son, former SHKP chairman Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, has been unchanged since September 2009.



Thomas and Raymond boosted their holdings in SHKP by 168.88 million shares on Friday, exactly half of 337.76 million shares trimmed from their mother's holdings.



But the two brothers also offloaded SHKP shares on the same day, thereby maintaining their prior stake.



After the exercise, Thomas still holds 16.22 percent of the firm while Raymond controls 16.25 percent.



Thomas's son Adam Kwok Kai-fai holds 20.37 percent, while Raymond's son Edward Kwok Ho-lai control
s 20.49 percent.



As for Walter, he owns 42.42 percent of the total shares of SHKP since September 2009, according to a stock exchange disclosure.


Walter owns 75,000 shares - which is next to nothing of the total 2.67 billion issued shares - according to the developer's annual report.
But he has claimed to have an interest in the 1.09 billion shares of the firm held by the family trust, HSBC Trustee (C.I.) Limited.

The developer, however, has stated Walter has no interest in the family trust.
HSBC Trustee was set up by Kwok Tak-seng, founder of Sun Hung Kai Properties and father of the three brothers.

The trust, so far, is the largest controlling shareholder of the developer, holding a 43.11 percent stake worth HK$113.62 billion going by yesterday's share price.

The senior Kwok's succession plan aimed to ensure the trust would never be dissolved by family members, as his wife and all three sons are beneficiaries.

However, the three brothers have failed to work together following their father's death in 1990. Walter lost the chairmanship in 2008, which was then transferred to his mother.

In 2010, Kwong announced the trust would be split into three parts equally - one-third for Walter's family, one-third for Thomas and his family, and the final one-third for Raymond and his family. But Walter was not included in the final settlement.  - 2013 December 4    The Standard

COURTS

Stage set for biggest graft trial in Hong Kong history

All eyes will be on the Court of First Instance today as the city's former No 2 official and the co-chairmen of one of the world's major real estate firms face trial in the biggest corruption court case in Hong Kong's history.  -- 2014 May 8  SCMP


REAL ESTATE DEALS


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