Hong Kong’s second-richest man Lee Shau-kee has died aged 97, the property tycoon’s firm Henderson Land Development announced Monday.
Lee died peacefully on Monday evening in the company of his family, Henderson said in a press release.
Known as “Uncle Four” because he had three elder siblings, Lee was one of the most influential players in Hong Kong’s post-war real estate boom and was also a shrewd stock market investor.
He was listed as the second wealthiest man in Hong Kong with a net worth of $29.2 billion, according to a Forbes list published in February.
During Lee’s tenure, Henderson cemented its place as one of the Chinese finance hub’s “big four” property developers, a dominant oligopoly that continues to shape life in the city.
The seven Hong Kong-listed companies of his empire had a combined market value of $71 billion at the time of his death, the South China Morning Post reported.
Lee retired late in life, only stepping down as chairman of Henderson in May 2019.
His sons Peter and Martin Lee took over as joint chairmen and managing directors.
Hong Kong’s original billionaires are held up locally as living symbols of the city’s economic rise and international clout, even as inequality remains rampant.
Like his tycoon peers, Lee kept close ties to Beijing and in 2013 voiced opposition to a Hong Kong civil disobedience movement calling for greater democracy.
Key developer
Born in China’s Guangdong province, Lee helped out in his family’s gold and silver business as a child before moving to Hong Kong in 1948, when he was 20.
He got his start in trading precious metals and currencies, but pivoted to real estate just as Hong Kong’s economy took off, with an influx of immigrants driving demand for housing and construction.
In 1969, Lee and two partners — together nicknamed the “three musketeers” — founded Sun Hung Kai, which went on to become one of the top property developers in the then British colony.
Lee recalled that period as a satisfying time in his life and said it was “truly a regret our partnership did not last long”, in a 2019 interview with Bloomberg News.
Lee established his own real estate firm Henderson Land in 1976. Early successes included a 52-block private housing estate in Shatin, one of Hong Kong’s first satellite towns.
The magnate’s business interests grew to encompass hotels, a natural gas provider, and the operator of Star Ferry — one of Hong Kong’s most recognisable icons.
The International Financial Centre, a gleaming tower at the edge of Victoria Harbour, was co-developed by Lee’s firm.
The Henderson — a Zaha Hadid Architects-designed skyscraper built on a $3 billion commercial land plot — opened last year at the heart of the Central business district.
As for his investments, Lee’s personal stock portfolio was valued at more than $26 billion at its height, but the legend of “Hong Kong’s Warren Buffett” was dimmed somewhat following losses from the 2008 global financial crisis.
In the 1990s and 2000s, it was sometimes a toss-up as to which property tycoon — Lee Shau-kee or Li Ka-shing — topped the list as the city’s wealthiest.
Lee’s philanthropic efforts included high-profile donations to schools and universities in Hong Kong and China.
City leader John Lee on Monday lauded the tycoon as an “outstanding business leader and entrepreneur who had made significant contributions to Hong Kong’s economic development, as well as the city’s prosperity and stability”.
Lee, who divorced in 1985 and never remarried, is survived by two sons and three daughters.
