Robert Kuok

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Chinese name, the family name is Kuok.
Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri

Robert Kuok
郭鹤年
Born
Kuok Hock Nien

(1923-10-06) 6 October 1923 (age 97)
Johor Bahru, Johor, Unfederated Malay States, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
OccupationBusinessman
Known forMalaysia's richest person
TitleFounder and chairman, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts
Spouse(s)Joyce Cheah (谢碧蓉) (deceased)
Pauline Ho Poh Lin (何宝莲)
Children8
RelativesKuok Khoon Hong (nephew)

Robert Kuok Hock Nien (simplified Chinese: 郭鹤年; traditional Chinese: 郭鶴年; pinyin: Guō Hènián; born 6 October 1923), is a Malaysian business magnate and investor of Chinese descent. According to Forbes, his net worth is estimated at $12.6 billion as of April 2021, making him the wealthiest person in Malaysia[2][3] and 104th wealthiest in the world.[4] As of April 2019, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Kuok has an estimated net worth of $18.4 billion, making him the 53rd richest person in the world.[5]

Kuok is media-shy; most of his businesses are privately held by him or his family. Apart from a multitude of businesses in Malaysia, his companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia.[6] His business interests range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis Plantations Bhd), sugar refineries, flour milling, animal feed, oil, mining, finance, hotel (Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts), property, trading, freight and publishing.[7] His biggest source of wealth is a stake in Wilmar International, the world's largest listed palm oil trader company.[8]

Kuok was appointed the Council of Eminent Persons member to advise the new Malaysian government elected in 2018.[9]

Early life and education[]

Kuok was born on 6 October 1923,[5] in Johor Bahru to a Malaysian Chinese family. Kuok's father Kuok Keng Kang arrived in Malaya from Fujian, China, at the beginning of the 20th century, and Robert was the youngest of three brothers born to Kuok Keng Kang and Robert's mother Zheng Ge Ru. He grew up speaking his parents' Fuzhou dialect, English and Japanese during Japan's wartime occupation of Malaya. He studied at Raffles Institution (where he was classmates with Lee Kuan Yew)[10] and English College Johore Bahru.

Career and business[]

According to Kuok himself, he began in business as an office boy, and later started a business with relatives' support.[6] Upon graduation, he became a collaborator and worked as a clerk in the rice-trading department of Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi Shoji Kaisha during the Japanese occupation period between 1942 and 1945, in Singapore, a conglomerate that with the help of Japanese military unit monopolized the rice trade in Malaya during the occupation period. He was soon promoted to head the rice-trading department. After the war, he took the skills he learned from the occupying force to the family's business in Johor.[11]

After the senior Kuok died in 1948, Kuok and his two brothers and a cousin, Kuok Hock Chin founded Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd in 1949, trading agricultural commodities. Kuok's relationship with the Japanese continued after Malaya gained independence. In 1959, Kuok formed Malayan Sugar Manufacturing Co. Bhd. together with two prominent Japanese partners. He also brought many influential Malay elites into his company as directors and shareholders, including politicians and royalty.[citation needed] In 1961, he bought cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up, and continued to invest heavily in sugar refineries, at one time controlling 80% of the Malaysian sugar market with production of 1.5 million tonnes, equivalent to 10% of world production, earning himself the nickname "Sugar King of Asia".

In 1971, he built the first Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. His first foray into Hong Kong property was in 1977, when he acquired a plot of land on the newly reclaimed Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront, where he built his second hotel, the Kowloon Shangri-La. In 1993, his Kerry Group acquired a 34.9% stake in the South China Morning Post from Murdoch's News Corporation. Kuok officially retired from the Kerry Group on 1 April 1993.

His companies have investments in many countries, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Mainland China, Indonesia, Fiji, and Australia. Businesses in China include 10 bottling companies for Coca-Cola and ownership of the Beijing World Trade Centre.[6]

Freight interests include Malaysian Bulk Carriers Berhad and Transmile Group.

In 2007, Kuok combined his plantations, edible oil, and grains businesses with Wilmar International, making it the world's biggest palm-oil processor.[12]

On 31 October 2009, PPB Group under the flagship of Robert Kuok issued a statement to the Bursa Malaysia that it had decided to dispose of its sugar units along with land used to cultivate sugar cane for RM 1.29 billion to FELDA. The sales resulted in a one-off gain for the company.

In February 2014, Kuok's Singapore-based oil services company PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH) started pre-IPO talks with investors to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange to raise $400 million.[13]

Politics[]

His political influence is attested by his selection as one of the Hong Kong Affairs Advisors in the run-up to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong, and his minority stake in CITIC Pacific. He was also instrumental in conveying information and setting up the meetings between Malaysian and Chinese governments leading to full diplomatic cross recognition of the two countries.

In the aftermath of 2018 Malaysian general election (GE14) which saw a change of government, on 12 May Kuok was appointed one of the five-member of the Council of Eminent Persons along with Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Tan Sri Hassan Marican and Jomo Kwame Sundaram to advise the new Pakatan Harapan (PH)'s federal government.[9][14]

Personal life[]

Kuok is married twice; with Joyce Cheah and Pauline Ho Poh Lin. He has eight children out of the marriages.[12] His son, Kuok Khoon Ean born in 1955 married Kuok Cheng Sui and holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nottingham, England. His other son, Kuok Khoon Ho is the chairman of Kuok Brothers, born in 1951 and holds a bachelor's degree from McGill University, Canada. Kuok Hui Kwong, his daughter, is the managing director and chief executive of SCMP Group and chairperson of Shangri-La Asia.[15][16] One of his sons, Kuok Khoon Ean, handles most of the day-to-day operations of his businesses. He currently resides in Kuala Lumpur.

Kuok's brother, Philip Kuok Hock Khee was a former Malaysian Ambassador to Germany, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. Philip married Eileen Kuok and had two sons and two daughters. Philip Kuok died in 2003. Another brother, William Kuok Hock Ling, was a member of the Malayan Communist Party and was killed during the Malayan Emergency in 1952.[17][15] According to his memoir, Kuok described that of all the brothers, his mother Zheng Ge Ru doted on and adored William the most, and was heartbroken when she received news of William's death.

His nephew, Kuok Khoon Hong is the chairman of Wilmar International, and one of the richest people in Singapore.[18] Kuok Khoon Hong's father, Kuok Hock Swee, was an older cousin of Robert Kuok.[19]

His grand-nephew, Kuok Meng Ru, is in the music retail industry, owning Swee Lee music company.[20]

Kuok is a follower of Buddhism religiously.[21] Kuok lives in Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong island.[22]

Bibliography[]

In March 2018, Kuok published a book about his life entitled, Robert Kuok: A Memoir. It won Best Book of the Year at the Singapore Book Publishers Association awards 2018.[23][24]

  • Robert Kuok: A Memoir (2018) ISBN 978-981-4189-73-6[25]

References[]

  1. ^ "Forbes Billionaires 2021: The Richest People in the World". Forbes. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Forbes Billionaires 2021: The Richest People in the World". Forbes. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Robert Kuok still Malaysia's richest man". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  4. ^ "The World Billionaire". Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index". Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Secretive billionaire forsakes retirement Archived 18 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 14 September 1993.
  7. ^ "Forbes profile: Robert Kuok". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Malaysia's Sugar King Kuok has gone global - Business News - The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b hermesauto (12 May 2018). "Who's who in Mahathir's new Cabinet and Council of Elders". straitstimes.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  10. ^ "Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: 'The greatest Chinese outside mainland China'". The Straits Times. 25 March 2015. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  11. ^ Annabelle R. Gambe. Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship and Capitalist Development in Southeast Asia, p 94. Lit Verlag Munster, 1999.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index - Robert Kuok". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Kuok-owned offshore firm in talks for 400m Singapore dollars. IPO". Oil Patch Asia. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  14. ^ Geraldine Tong (12 May 2018). "Daim, Zeti, Kuok, Hassan, Jomo named in advisory council". Malaysiakini. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "Asian magnate Robert Kuok, 89, will let others worry about succession". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  16. ^ "BRIEF-Shangri-La Asia says Kuok hui kwong will assume position of chairman of board". Reuters. 26 September 2016. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  17. ^ Laut, Stulang (4 January 2012). "The world's shrewdest businessman – Founder of Shangri-La Mr. Kuok | Kita We 我們". Stulanglaut.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  18. ^ Chanyaporn Chanjaroen; William Mellor (1 February 2013). "Billionaire Kuok Says His Empire Can Last 'Generations'". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  19. ^ "Mahathir's 94-year-old top adviser rekindles China connections". Nikkei Asian Review. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  20. ^ "Kuok Meng Ru and His Sweet New Version of Swee Lee". Prestige Online - Society’s Luxury Authority. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  21. ^ Lee, Minerva (4 June 2017). "10 Buddhist Billionaires in Asia". Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  22. ^ Olsen, Robert. "The Wealthiest Neighborhood On Earth: Deep Water Bay". Forbes. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  23. ^ "Robert Kuok | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  24. ^ hermesauto (21 September 2018). "Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok's memoir is Book of the Year at Singapore Book Awards". The Straits Times. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  25. ^ Robert Kuok, Andrew Tanzer (2018), Robert Kuok: A Memoir, Landmark Books Pte Ltd, ISBN 9789674154721

External links[]

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