Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1993

CITATIONS Dr. Lee Shau Kee, DBA In Hong Kong, a city where there are more millionaires per square mile than any where else on earth, a favourite pastime o f the media is to figure out who the richest man is. Over the years many attempts have been made, but none wa s conclusive because no one has been able to work out the real net worth o f Dr. Lee Shau Kee. He controls five listed companies, namely Henderson Land , Henderson Investment, Hong Kong andChina Gas, Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings) and, since a few months ago, the Miramar Hotel Group. They account fo r almost five per cent of Hong Kong's stock market capitalization, and Dr. Lee is reported to hold some 65 per cent of the total equity i n some of these companies. That means he receives 65 per cent o f the dividends. To this must be added his own private investments which are, by all accounts, substantial. I t should come as no surprise, therefore, i f Dr. Lee were found to have made more money than anybody else in the last few years. Wealth creation is of course as desirable as it is elusive. Man y people have tried, and are still trying, but few have succeeded. Perhaps it is true that entrepreneurs ar e bom, not made. I n Lee Shau Kee's case, he was bom into a small merchant family in Shunde County, Guangdong Province, in 1928. He came to Hong Kong when he was barely 20 years of age, t o make his way i n the world. He had less than a thousand dollars and he could not speak English. I n Lee's own words, he came here ' w i t h his hands and not much else.' But what he had was business acumen aplenty. The first few years were difficul t as Lee worked his way around the Bonham Strand area, i n gold shops, money exchange shops, hardware stores and in the import- export business. His first foray into property came in 1956 when h e teamed up with the legendary Fung K i ng Hey and Kwok Tak Sing to f o rm the Wi n g Y i p Property Company wi t h five other shareholders. Two years later, they made their first important acquisition —t he ol d Shatin Height Hote l which was a landmark of the Sha T i n area and a favourite stopping place fo r people who were making a day trip to the then largely undeveloped New Territories. In 1963, Lee , Fung and Kwok , the brains behind Wi n g Y i p, started 46th Congregation 21