Robert Kuok’s Youngest Son Kuok Khoon Hua to Chair Kerry Properties

Kerry Properties is appointing founder Robert Kuok’s youngest son Kuok Khoon Hua as its next chairman as the developer of China’s six Kerry Centre commercial projects makes way for the next generation of leadership.

Kuok Khoon Hua will be elected chairman of Kerry Properties at the firm’s annual general meeting on 19 May with incumbent chairman and executive director Wong Siu Kong set to retire effective that same day, according to an announcement to the Hong Kong stock exchange late last week.

Now 43, Kuok Khoon Hua is taking over at Kerry Properties as the latest stage in a leadership succession in the empire of his billionaire father, with the younger Kuok having already been appointed to top roles in the conglomerate’s logistics, food processing and investment holding entities.

Khoon Hua is taking over Kerry Properties after the developer, which has nearly $5 billion in assets under management across Hong Kong, mainland China and Southeast Asia, reported contracted sales for 2021 of one third more than its target, according to its latest unaudited financial statement released on Thursday showed.

Consolidating Power

The chairmanship announcement comes nearly three years after Kuok Khoon Hua was appointed vice president and chief executive officer of Kerry Properties in June 2019.

The youngest of Robert Kuok’s eight children and the only son of the Malaysian tycoon’s second wife, Ho Poh Lin, the graduate of Harvard University also holds senior positions in other subsidiaries of the Kuok Group such as privately held Kerry Holdings, which he chairs, as well as Kerry Group and Kuok (Singapore) where he acts as a director.

Kuok Khoon Hua had already been appointed chairman of Hong Kong-listed logistics firm Kerry Logistics Network in 2019, and has also taken on directorships at Singapore-listed food producer Wilmar International, as well as acting as an independent director in Singapore-based Internet firm Sea Ltd, whose business includes e-commerce provider Shopee.

The Kuok family’s best known business, the Shangri-La Hotel Group is run by Khoon Hua’s sister, Kuok Hui Kwong.

As he takes over the developer which his father founded in 1978, will enjoy tailwinds from Kerry Properties’ strong performance last year which included profit attributable to shareholders nearly doubling to HK$10.36 billion ($1.32 billion) from HK$5.4 billion in 2020.

“2021 was a strong year for the group, and our positive result was the concerted efforts of all the business units in Hong Kong and the Mainland,” the company said in an announcement to the bourse. “We achieved strong contracted sales from eight different cities.”

The listed firm reported HK$18 billion in combined contracted sales across all its properties in Hong Kong and mainland China, including surpassing its Hong Kong target by 66 percent.

Leasing revenues in these two key markets also grew by 11 percent year on year to HK$5.3 billion in 2021 from HK$4.8 billion a year earlier.

Leadership Transition

The younger Kuok will be replacing Wong who is bowing out at 71 after being an executive director since 1996. Wong had served as CEO of Kerry Properties until handing off that role to Kuok Khoon Hua in 2008.

“The board would like to express its sincere gratitude to Mr. Wong for his leadership, immense contributions and dedication to the company,” the statement read. “For the past 26 years, he has played an important role in the company’s development and has helped to lay a solid foundation for the company’s future growth.”

Kuok Khoon Hua is leading a board of directors that has been welcoming a younger generation, including promoting its chief financial officer, 42-year-old Serene Nah, to executive director rank in October after just two years of service in the company.

Also leaving Kerry Properties’ board will be 73-year-old former Ernst & Young China and Hong Kong vice chairman Chang Tso Tung, who is retiring from the independent, non-executive director post that he has held since 2012.