The past November was of special significance to the 44-year-old Zheng Zhigang, the "third generation" of the Zheng Yutong family.
November is not only his birthday month, but also the day he is appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hong Kong Wealth Inheritance Academy.
As the saying goes, you can't be rich for three generations. Family succession is never easy. The Hong Kong Institute of Wealth Inheritance was established by the Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) on behalf of the Hong Kong SAR Government, and is committed to enhancing Hong Kong as the preferred place for global family wealth management.
Zheng Zhigang, who was widely regarded as the third generation of the family, officially assumed the chairmanship of the board on November 14, and to some extent, is also regarded as the image representative of Hong Kong family enterprises and even the spokesperson of Hong Kong family wealth management.
This appointment is well deserved.
However, just four days later, on November 18, his father, 76-year-old Cheng Kar-Shun, the head of the family's "second generation" and chairman of Hong Kong's New World Development and Chow Tai Fook Group, made a rare appearance in a media interview after years of living in seclusion and fading from public view. In a video interview, the third-richest man in Hong Kong, who is worth more than $20 billion, admitted that the family successor is "still under observation", and even said that "it is not necessary to find a family successor", and if there is no suitable person, he will be responsible for the family business sector through external recruitment.
This "blockbuster" statement has made it a suspense whether Adrian Cheng is still the third-generation successor of the Hong Kong family with an industry of more than 100 billion yuan.
Who is the successor and who can "steer" the 100 billion family asset foundation in the Bay Area has attracted widespread attention.
Hong Kong's third richest man "appeared"
"You don't have to find a successor"
According to the 2023 data released by Forbes, the total assets of Cheng Kar-chun, the eldest son of Cheng Yutong, and his family are as high as 28.9 billion US dollars, or about 225.4 billion Hong Kong dollars.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Cheng Ka has net assets of US$21.6 billion, making it the third richest person in Hong Kong, after Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau Kee. In fourth place is Infinitus' Lee Wai Sum and his family.
But in fact, the 76-year-old Cheng Kar-shun has been living in seclusion since he was admitted to the hospital after suffering a stroke in 2017. Until November 18 this year, he appeared in an interview with Chow Tai Fook's TV station and said that he was still in power.
Cheng Kar-chun, who is known as a "pure official" in the camera, said firmly that he continued to work after the stroke, but more often worked from home, including holding meetings, meeting with colleagues or signing documents, and he was still responsible for the main decision-making power of the family business.
As the son of Cheng Yu-Tung, Cheng Kar-Shun is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of NWD and NWS under the "Cheng Family" territory, and is also the Chairman and Executive Director of Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Limited.
Regarding the requirements for the successor, Cheng Kar-chun believes that it is necessary to have both ability and political integrity.
Although he did not name his children directly, he said that the first successor needs to have a strong interest and passion for the family business.
"If you can become a successor, you must be selfless and selfless, and you must have that passion for the family business, and you can do well in the end. ”
In addition, the successor needs to have leadership skills and be able to manage employees and colleagues impartially and earning their trust and respect.
Cheng Kar-chun hopes that the heirs can treat the family business with a kind attitude and aim for inheritance, rather than out of selfishness. In addition, the heirs should also have the ability and willingness to take care of other family members.
In Cheng Kar-chun's view, the list of his successors has not yet been released. He said he was still watching and found it difficult to find a suitable successor.
"With so many rules and regulations, it will not be easy to find a successor. I would be very happy if I found it. If he can't find it, he said, the solution is to "manage each business unit of the group separately by family members", and if there is no suitable person in charge of the business unit, it can be recruited externally.
It's not about "living and working until you're old"
The company plans to spin off and go public
Unlike Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau-kee, the "generation" Zheng Yutong did not "live to old age and work until old age" like the first two, but chose to retreat into the background early and arrange for his children to take over.
In the second generation of the "head" Cheng Kar-chun, he also followed his father's practice and arranged for the third generation of the family such as Zheng Zhigang and Zheng Zhiwen to participate in the company's affairs very early. It is regarded by the outside world as an example of the third generation of Hong Kong's wealthy families with their own division of labor and focus, and "family and everything is prosperous".
"Doing business must be fair", if you make all the money, you will not find a good partner - this is the purpose of Cheng Kar-Shun, who began to run the company with his father Cheng Yutong in the 80s of the 20th century and took over the family business in 2010.
"I hope it can be passed down for at least a few more generations." In the interview, Cheng Kar-Shun hopes to spin off the company's business as much as possible at the right time and under the right environment, the main purpose is to hope that the company will be subject to public scrutiny, high transparency and government supervision, which he believes will be very helpful for future succession.
According to public data, the Cheng Yu Tung Family Trust holds family businesses through Chow Tai Fook Corporate Holdings, including New World Development, whose core business is real estate, Chow Tai Fook jewellery, NWS Holdings, which covers transportation containers and insurance, and New World Department Store, which operates mainland department stores.
In fact, spin-offs are no strangers to the Zheng family. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery was also spun off from New World Development in 2011.
"Generation" Zheng Yutong once said on the day of Chow Tai Fook's roadshow that Chow Tai Fook's listing is to prepare for a rainy day for the fourth generation of the family and pave the way for succession. Now Cheng Kar-Shun's spin-off and listing is undoubtedly on the agenda - for a large and complex family business, listing is also a guaranteed path to balance the interests of multiple parties, and the listing of family assets can help clarify the content and value of assets, and reduce the transaction cost of resolving family disputes through equity transfer.
In the middle of this year, NWD will immediately strengthen the Company's financial position through the sale of approximately 60.86% of NWS's issued share capital to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, which will receive cash proceeds of $21,754.3 million, and will pay a special dividend of $4 billion, equivalent to $1.59 per share, to all shareholders, with the remaining proceeds to be used to repay existing borrowings and serve as general working capital for the Group.
"Family Harmony, Friendship and Unity"
How to break the saying that there are only three generations of wealth?
As one of the four richest families in Hong Kong, the Cheng Yutong family was founded by Zheng Yutong, who is known as "Uncle Tong" and "Sha Dantong".
In Cantonese, "sand urchin" can describe someone's courage, which means reckless and rash, and also has the meaning of refreshing, agile, not mother-in-law, and procrastination.
As the founder of Chow Tai Fook Group, 13-year-old "country boy" Zheng Yutong walked out of Lunjiao, Shunde, Guangdong, Macau Xi and Hong Kong rode the wind of the times, worked hard with white hands, gradually expanded from jewelry and gold industry to diversified businesses, dared to invest, and achieved hundreds of billions of family wealth.
The Cheng family is also a large and prosperous family, in which Cheng Kar-chun and his wife have four children.
The eldest son, Adrian Cheng, is currently the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of New World, and is considered to be the third generation of the Cheng family. Adrian Cheng was appointed Executive Director of New World in March 2007 at the age of 28, and was appointed as Joint General Manager in March 2012, Executive Vice Chairman and Co-General Manager in April 2015, Executive Vice Chairman and General Manager in March 2017 and Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in May 2020 at the age of 41.
In addition to Adrian Cheng, Cheng Kar-Shun's eldest daughter, Cheng Chi Man, is the Chief Executive Officer of Rosewood Hotel Group, his second son, Cheng Chi Ming, is NWS's Executive Director, overseeing infrastructure business and mergers and acquisitions, and his younger son, Cheng Chi Leung, oversees NWS' business development and strategic investments. In addition, Cheng Kar-chun also has a younger brother, Cheng Kar-shing, and three sisters.
In addition, according to Cheng Yutong's obituary in 2016, Cheng Kar-shun has two other sons outside.
At the end of the interview, Cheng Kar-Shun emphasized that family inheritance is not limited to business, but also about culture and philosophy. It is hoped that family members will unite and live in harmony, inherit the family culture as much as possible, and put the family first. Finding the right person can break the saying that there are only three generations of wealth.
In "The Biography of Cheng Yu-tung", funded by the Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation in early 2016, the "second generation" of the Cheng family recalled his father as follows:
"To your grandfather and grandmother, you show your filial piety to your children, and to your family members, you always care for your family and are always willing to help those in need. I remember when we were young, we often had relatives living with our family, and my father remembered that the newcomers were unfamiliar with life, so he would let them live in our house temporarily, and arrange work to enable them to earn a living on their own. In my memory, the house was always lively, and the children had to sleep on canvas beds in the living room, so we never forgot which relatives and elders we used to spend time with. ”
Subsequently, Cheng Yutong's five children, including Cheng Kar-shun, jointly signed: "We will follow your spirit of valuing the family, and tell the next generation of members to maintain family harmony, friendship and unity for generations." ”
In the interview, Cheng Kar-chun said: "Some people say that they are rich for no more than three generations, and the reason is very simple, some successors are not virtuous and only take care of the interests of their own house. If there is no successor, and the decision is made by the shareholders' meeting, there is no such trouble. Because the shareholders of the family will not change, the number of people and the proportion of shares held are the same. In this way, it is possible to avoid affecting the next generation due to the bad morals of the successor. ”
How to be rich for three generations? "Family and everything is prosperous" may be the answer.
文 | 记者 王丹阳图 | 周大福官网