The 94-year-old lady has become the richest woman in China
China's richest woman has been replaced!
On November 14, the "2023 Hongyan Club Hurun Female Entrepreneur List" announced that 94-year-old Kuang Xiaoqing became the richest woman in China for the first time with a wealth of 72 billion yuan.
Kwong Xiaoqing has been the richest woman in Hong Kong many times, and this is the first time she has become the richest woman in China. Kwong Xiaoqing is also the sixth richest woman in China in the 18 years of the Hurun Women Entrepreneurs List, the top five are Zhang Yin of Nine Dragons Paper (three times), Yang Huiyan of Country Garden (ten times), Wu Yajun of Longfor (twice), Zhou Qunfei of Lens Technology (once), and Chen Lihua of Fuhua International (once ).
Kwong is the wife of Hong Kong property tycoon Sun Hung Kai Properties' founder, Kwok Tak-shing. Sun Hung Kai Properties is one of the largest real estate companies in Hong Kong, one of the largest land banks in Hong Kong, and the commercial real estate company with the largest rental income. As of the end of 2022, Sun Hung Kai had 34.8 million square feet of completed properties.
Backed by "big trees are good for enjoying the shade", the 94-year-old lady Kuang Xiaoqing can earn billions or even tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars a year just by collecting rent, so Kuang Xiaoqing is also known as "China's first charter wife" by the outside world. Unlike some self-made wealthy women, most of Kwong Xiaoqing's wealth is inherited. How did Kuang Xiaoqing, who bears the honor and mission of the family, and the Guo family behind her, keep their wealth?
China's richest woman has become a man
It all started more than 90 years ago.
Kuang Xiaoqing, who was born in 1929, married Guo Desheng at the age of 20. After 1950, with the agency of nylon products, Kwok Tak Sheng became one of Hong Kong's multimillionaires. In 1963, Kwok and his friends Fung King-hei and Lee Shau-kee founded Sun Hung Kai. With the model of "strata sale and ten-year installment", the three of them have a place in the real estate circle. Since 1970, Guo Desheng has invested the money he earned in real estate to buy land and build buildings to collect rent. The wealth of the Guo family is getting bigger and bigger like a snowball.
By 1981, the Kwok family was known as the "Four Great Families in Hong Kong" along with the Li Ka-shing family of Cheung Kong Asset, the Cheng Yu-Tung family of New World Development, and the Lee Shau Kee family of Henderson Land. But the good times did not last long, and Guo Desheng died of illness in October 1990. After Kwok's death, Kwong held a large stake in SHKP through a trust fund and became the largest shareholder of SHKP Properties.
Whether the outside world admits it or not, although he has never really managed Sun Hung Kai, Kwong Xiaoqing has never been absent from Sun Hung Kai. She is like a "needle of the sea", stabilizing the Guo family's road to overturn. In 1988, when Kwok Tak-sheng resigned as general manager of Sun Hung Kai due to illness, the eldest son Kwok Bingxiang officially took over as general manager, the second son Kwok Bingjiang and the third son Kwok Binglian were appointed as deputy general managers, and the youngest daughter Kwok Wanyi was appointed as the deputy manager of the finance department.
During the time that these second-generation generations worked together, Sun Hung Kai's total assets increased 12 times on the basis of Kwok Tak-sheng, reaching more than 300 billion Hong Kong dollars. However, Guo Bingxiang's kidnapping by Zhang Ziqiang in 1997 caused a rift within the family. When it was proposed to redeem Kwok Bingxiang with HK$2 billion from the family fund, Kwok and Kwok Binglian argued that such a high amount should not be taken from the family fund. The attitude of the Guo family angered Zhang Ziqiang, and when he couldn't get the money for a long time, he began to torture Guo Bingxiang to vent his anger.
Later, thanks to the fundraising of his wife Li Tianying, Guo Bingxiang was safely redeemed, but the "cold-bloodedness" of the family made Guo Bingxiang suspicious. He began to be inseparable from a woman named Tang Jinxin. Later, Tang Jinxin even participated in Sun Hung Kai's affairs frequently as a "hostess". Not only that, Kwok Bingxiang also cultivated his own power at Sun Hung Kai, gradually weakening the power of his two younger brothers. This not only caused dissatisfaction among the younger brothers, but also angered his mother Kuang Xiaoqing.
Subsequently, Kuang Xiaoqing set up 11 family rules, such as prohibiting Guo Bingxiang and Li Tianying from divorcing, prohibiting Tang Jinxin and his family from meddling in company affairs, and so on. The family rules also read: "If Mom is not there, the above is just as valid." However, Kwok Bingxiang still insisted on going his own way, and in 2007 decided to let Tang Jinxin join the board of directors. This undoubtedly upset the balance of power in the Kwok family.
In 2010, Kuang Xiaoqing, who was disappointed in his eldest son, divided the family property to his two younger sons, Guo Bingjiang and Guo Binglian, and the eldest son Guo Bingxiang was completely out. The isolated Guo Bingxiang did not sit still, and backhanded reported the two younger brothers for suspected corruption and bribery. Two years later, the second brother, Guo Bingjiang, was sentenced to five years in prison. This grievance caused Sun Hung Kai's stock price to plummet. In order to fight this lawsuit, Sun Hung Kai spent nearly HK$1 billion, setting a new high for Hong Kong lawyers.
In the midst of Sun Hung Kai's ups and downs, Kwong Xiaoqing, who was admitted to the hospital due to illness, realized that endless internal friction has all kinds of harm and no benefit. In 2012, under the auspices of Kuang Xiaoqing, the family fund was reorganized, and the family property was redistributed, with one for each of the three brothers. Kwong Xiaoqing himself still has absolute equity and decision-making power in Sun Hung Kai.
Later, Kwok Bingxiang withdrew from Sun Hung Kai, drew a clear line with the Kwok family, and established the "Imperial Group" on his own, focusing on the mainland real estate industry. In 2018, the 68-year-old Kwok Bingxiang was worth $8.7 billion, ranking tenth on the Forbes list of Hong Kong's richest people. However, in August of that year, Guo Bingxiang fainted at home due to a heart attack. After 55 days in a coma in the hospital, Guo Bingxiang passed away.
Due to the lack of a will before his death, after Guo Bingxiang's death, nearly 60 billion Hong Kong dollars of property was divided into two: one was left to his wife Li Tianying, and the other was inherited by his mother Kwong Xiaoqing. The inheritance left by the eldest son Kwok Bingxiang, coupled with the Sun Hung Kai assets owned, Kwong Xiaoqing has been the richest woman in Hong Kong since then.
On the "2021 Hurun Women Entrepreneurs List", Kuang Xiaoqing ranked fifth with a net worth of 70 billion. In 2022, the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate continued to strengthen. Benefiting from the rise in the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar and the dividends of Sun Hung Kai Properties, Kwong Xiaoqing's wealth in 2022 has grown to 72 billion yuan, making her the richest woman in China.
In addition to the title of "China's richest woman", Kuang Xiaoqing is also the strongest charter wife. Sun Hung Kai paid HK$3.7 per share at the end of 2022, an increase of about 20% over the same period last year. According to Sun Hung Kai's announcement in 2018, major shareholder Kwong Xiaoqing increased his holdings by 140,000 shares, increasing his shareholding to 26.36%. Some media have calculated an account based on the above data, and in 2022, Kwong Xiaoqing will account for more than 6 billion Hong Kong dollars in rental income alone.
Keep an eye on the real estate business
In Hong Kong, there is a saying that "if you don't own a Sun Hung Kai property, you are not a rich man in Hong Kong." "Since its establishment, Sun Hung Kai has been engaged in real estate development in Hong Kong.
Sun Hung Kai Properties' masterpiece in Hong Kong, the early Central Plaza, which was completed in 1992, established Sun Hung Kai's status as a real estate project in Hong Kong. In the following decades, Sun Hung Kai built a number of landmark buildings in Hong Kong, such as the International Finance Centre and the International Commerce Centre. Among them, the International Commerce Centre in West Kowloon is 484 meters high, which is known as "the tallest building in Hong Kong".
In the past two years, Sun Hung Kai has remained active in Hong Kong. In 2022, Sun Hung Kai added three commercial sites. As at the end of the year, Sun Hung Kai had a land bank of approximately 58 million square feet in Hong Kong. Sun Hung Kai, which is dedicated to real estate, has gained a good reputation in Hong Kong. "It is the best real estate developer in Hong Kong among the four major real estate developers. The quality of the real estate and the brand reputation are good. Huang Lichong, co-founder of Xiezhong Strategic Management Group, who has lived in Hong Kong for a long time, told "City Boundary".
Sun Hung Kai also does rental housing. SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR, THE NEW FLAGSHIP PROJECT OF SUN-HUNG KAI'S GIFTED CIRCLE RESIDENTIAL LEASING BRAND "TOWNPLACE HONSHA", TOWNPLACE WEST KOWLOON, WILL LAND IN HONG KONG WEST KOWLOON IN THE SECOND HALF OF 2023. Judging from public information, the entire project will be launched in phases with a total of 843 units. Sun Hung Kai claims that it has created the largest high-quality rental project in Hong Kong for the talent community.
If Hong Kong is Sun Hung Kai's home base, the mainland market is its second position. Since 1993, Sun Hung Kai has developed its first commercial real estate project in China, Beijing APM. In the decades that followed, Sun Hung Kai acquired land and developed projects. According to incomplete statistics from the "City Boundary", Sun Hung Kai's commercial projects in the mainland include Shanghai IFC, Shanghai ICC, Guangzhou IGC Mall and Guangzhou Tianhuan Plaza.
In the past two years, Sun Hung Kai has stepped up its project layout in the Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Macao Greater Bay Area. Sun Hung Kai's change in action began with the third generation of successors taking the helm. After Guo Bingxiang's death in 2018, Kwong Xiaoqing retreated into the background, and the power gradually moved to the third generation of the Guo family. Kwok Bingjiang's son, Kwok Kei-fai, became an executive director of Sun Hung Kai, he was born in 1983 and graduated from Harvard University.
Kwok attaches great importance to the Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Macao Greater Bay Area. While attending the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) this year, Guo Jihui submitted three proposals on the high-quality development of the Greater Bay Area. Not only that, since 2017, Kwok Kei-fai has led the Hong Kong Guangdong Youth Association to carry out the "Greater Bay Area Youth Index Survey" four times and publish research reports, putting forward constructive policy recommendations to the governments of Guangdong and Hong Kong.
Sun Hung Kai has also taken concrete actions to support the development of the Greater Bay Area. In recent years, Sun Hung Kai has won a number of TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) projects. For example, in 2018, Sun Hung Kai won the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed rail Qingsheng TOD project in Nansha, and in 2021, Sun Hung Kai won the bid for the Guangzhou South Railway Station TOD project. Overall, Sun Hung Kai's land bank in the mainland has surpassed that of Hong Kong. As at the end of 2022, Sun Hung Kai had a total land bank of about 67.5 million square feet in the Mainland, of which about 47.1 million square feet were properties under development. The remaining approximately 20.4 million square feet are completed properties.
In the mainland, Sun Hung Kai also has a good reputation. Some real estate tycoons, such as Wang Shi, the founder of Vanke, have taken Sun Hung Kai as a role model. According to Wang Shi's own account, Vanke has followed Sun Hung Kai and regularly visited real estate projects. Vanke's property brand, Vanke Hui, learned from Sun Hung Kai. And in 2000, when Vanke re-selected a major shareholder, Wang Shi even wandered between China Resources and Sun Hung Kai for a time.
In Huang Lichong's view, although Sun Hung Kai continues to carry out real estate development at present, and retains many real estate projects in the development process, such as office buildings and tail plates, "due to the impact of the turmoil over production, coupled with the fact that Mrs. Kwong is also old, Sun Hung Kai is unlikely to have some particularly international operations, such as going abroad, etc., and is more focused on keeping the original industry." ”
From the perspective of Sun Hung Kai's development, the Kwok family is the only family that has not diversified development. Judging from the fact that mainland real estate continues to be in deep control, "Sun Hung Kai's development is too simple, which is not a good thing. Unless the market can reverse. A senior real estate person in Hong Kong told City Boundary.
This is undoubtedly an unprecedented challenge for the third-generation successor represented by Guo Jihui.
Author | Tao Ting
Data | Sun Chunfang
Operations | Liu Shan