In response to enquiries, Victor Li said that the Li family would institutionalise the setting up of a home office in Hong Kong.
In response to enquiries, Mr Victor Li, chairman of Cheung WO (001) , said yesterday that the Li Ka Shing family would institutionalise the setting up of a family office in Hong Kong, managed by friendly colleagues and family members, it is the first wealthy family in Hong Kong to set up a family office in the city. Experts believe that the Li family will send out a message that they will continue to invest in Hong Kong in the future and will promote the deployment of successors as soon as possible.
Victor Li pointed out that the Li family had been making various investments in Hong Kong, and that after the institutionalisation of the Home Office, the manager would include friendly colleagues and family members who had worked together for many years.
Managed by colleagues and family members
In addition to the hk-listed empire with a market capitalisation of over $450 billion, Cheung Wo’s founder, Li Ka Shing, has also set up Victoria Harbour Investment, which over the years has invested in a number of technology innovation enterprises, in 2006, He Li Ka Shing Foundation a third of the then US $9 billion (HK $70 billion) , since its establishment in 1980, it has promoted more than HK $30 billion in education, health care and pro-poor projects.
The Li Ka Shing family’s latest total assets were US $28.6 billion (223.1 billion Hong Kong dollars) , with US $12.6 billion (98.3 billion Hong Kong dollars) in cash, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Liu Mingyang, Deloitte’s Hong Kong Managing Partner for China Private Enterprise and private user services, said the Li family’s comments meant the home office was based in Hong Kong rather than elsewhere, “It shows that [ the Lee family ] will continue to invest in Hong Kong, do charity work and even manage the family legacy, which is a good message for the market. Liu Mingyang explained that“Institutionalisation” of home-based businesses means building up a team to focus on wealth planning, family governance, succession planning and children’s education, it can effectively solve the problem of family members’ loose intention to use funds and unclear division of labour, and means that under the system, a committee will be set up with family members and third-party experts to come in and vote on major decisions.
Ms Anissa Pang, director of the Research Centre for Asian family business and Family Office at HKUST Business School Kam Lok Chi, said that there had been a lot of investment activities by “Old Money”(Old Money) of wealthy families in Hong Kong, setting up a family office in Hong Kong is not new, but the nature of“Minding one’s own business” is often more secretive. The high-profile remarks made by the Li family this time reflect strong support for the government’s policy, and it has helped to institutionalise more home-ownership by the rich.
Ms Pang did not comment on the specific practices of individual families. However, she pointed out that they were called“Home-run” rather than private investment companies because they involved areas other than wealth, such as establishing family values and passing on work, it means grooming a successor, “Or at least planning ahead. She said that Home Office is a long-term work and it is necessary to gradually accumulate results in promoting the development of Hong Kong.
Information on continued investment in Hong Kong
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Changhwa Association in late May this year, Victor Li made a point of pointing out that as an international financial centre, more and more international companies and international family offices are located in Hong Kong, regardless of the principal’s race or nationality, “The more international companies in Hong Kong, the stronger Hong Kong’s position as an international financial market will be and the better our economic position will be”, which is conducive to the long-term development of Hong Kong.