Walter Kwok Ping-sheung JP (; Cantonese pronunciation: ; 1950 – 20 October 2018) was a Hong Kong real estate developer. He was the eldest son of

Kwok Tak-seng Kwok Tak-seng OBE (12 March 1911 – 30 October 1990) was a Hong Kong businessman. He was the founder of Sun Hung Kai Properties, one of the major property developers in Hong Kong. Early life Kwok was born in Macau. The ancestral home of the ...

, founder of

Sun Hung Kai Properties Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP) is a listed corporation and one of the largest property developers in Hong Kong. The company's businesses include property sales, property rental, telecommunications (SmarTone, SUNeVision), hotel operatio ...

, and his wife

Kwong Siu-hing Kwong Siu-hing, or sometimes Kwok Kwong Siu-hing (; born 2 December 1929), is the matriarch of the Kwok family. She controls the conglomerate Sun Hung Kai Properties, the largest property developer in Hong Kong as of 2019. As of 2008, Kwong effe ...

. Following their father's death in 1990, he and his brothers

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

and

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

inherited Sun Hung Kai Properties. Kwok, formerly chairman and CEO of Sun Hung Kai Properties, negotiated his departure from the family firm in 2010. His mother remains the controlling shareholder of the company, whilst his brothers manage the firm. The Kwok family was ranked third in 2017 ''Asia's Richest Families'', with an estimated net worth of US$40.4 billion as of November 2017.

Early life and family

Kwok was born in 1950 in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was under British Empire, British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. It was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 ...

, the eldest son of

, founder of

, and his wife

. The Kwok family's

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

was located in

Zhongshan Zhongshan ( zh, c=中山 ), alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is n ...

, Guangdong, formerly known as Xiangshan. Kwok was educated at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in England, from which he earned a master's degree in civil engineering. Kwok and his younger brothers

and

are together referred to by media as the Kwok brothers. Together they controlled the majority of

(until ouster in 2008, see below section). As of March 2018, all three brothers were listed in the Forbes 2018 ''

The World's Billionaires ''The World's Billionaires'' is an annual ranking of people who are billionaires, i.e., they are considered to have a net worth of US$1 billion or more, by the American business magazine ''Forbes''. The list was first published in March 1987. ...

'', with a net worth of US$16.5 billion (Thomas and Raymond) and US$8 billion (Walter only) respectively. In a separate listing, the Kwok family was listed as the third-richest in Forbes's ''2017 Asia's Richest Families'', with a net worth of US$40.4

billion Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions: * 1,000,000,000, i.e. one thousand million, or (ten to the ninth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the most common sense of the word in all varieties of ...

as of November 2017. The net worth by Forbes as of his death was US$6.9 billion.

Abduction

Kwok was kidnapped by the notorious gangster "Big Spender"

Cheung Tze-keung Cheung Tze-keung ( – ) was a notorious Hong Kong gangster also known as "Big Spender" (). He was a kidnapper, robber, arms smuggler and was wanted for murder. He was best known for having masterminded the abduction of Walter Kwok and Vi ...

on 30 September 1997, and was released seven days later without police intervention. Negotiations fronted by wife Wendy resulted in payment of a ransom rumoured to have been nine figures. Following his arrest in Guangzhou in 1998, Cheung confessed that he had put Kwok in a wooden container blindfolded for four days, and fed him regular meals of roast pork with rice, until the ransom of some HK$600 million was paid. The ransom in 1,000-dollar notes was packed inside 20 large carrier bags and driven in two Mercedes saloon cars to a quiet lane in Central district.Erick Ko and AFP
"Tough guy, likeable rogue"
,

The Standard The Standard may refer to: Entertainment * The Standard (band), an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon * ''The Standard'' (novel), a 1934 novel by the Austrian writer Alexander Lernet-Holenia * ''The Standard'' (Tommy Flanagan album), 1980 * ...

, 13 November 1998 After the kidnapping, the badly shaken Kwok handed over the executive duties of SHKP to his younger brothers while retaining the title of chairman and chief executive.Mary Ma
"Kwoks captive of own success"
, ''The Standard'', 26 February 2008 His abductor, Cheung, was captured in

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, China, and executed in December 1998.

Later chairmanship

As a result of his kidnapping ordeal, Kwok reportedly developed deep psychological problems, and while he retained the titles of chairman and chief executive, his two brothers Thomas and Raymond controlled day-to-day operations of the group. Under Kwok's later chairmanship, press reported that a former girlfriend, Ida Tong, had become increasingly influential in decision making. This influence has led to business decisions by Kwok that departed from its previous conservative model, and without the consensus of his brothers.Staff reporter
"My ex-wife fell for a Kwok"
, ''The Standard'', 20 February 2008

Ouster

On 18 February 2008, Sun Hung Kai Properties issued a statement saying Kwok would take a temporary

leave of absence The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they ar ...

for personal reasons with immediate effect. Kwok later issued a statement stating he would take a personal holiday to travel to the United States, Beijing and other cities in the coming two to three months, adding he would resume his duties on his return.Staff reporter
"Lover feud splits Kwok brothers"
, ''The Standard'', 19 February 2008 However, Kwok was formally removed as the chairman on 27 May, with his mother

taking over as chairperson. Kwok remained as one of the non-executive directors until his resignation in 2014. The ''

Sing Tao Daily The ''Sing Tao Daily'' (also known as ''Sing Tao Jih Pao''; ) is among Hong Kong's oldest Chinese language newspapers. It is owned by Sing Tao News Corporation, of which Kwok Ying-shing () is chairman. Its English-language sister is the free ...

'' and sister publication ''

'' reported that the family matriarch Kwong Siu-hing, wielding the holding of the Sun Hung Kai trust, intervened to oust Kwok from his chairman position to protect the family's interests. It was said that Tong's influence as Kwok's mistress of four years had caused friction with his brothers. Kwok founded in 2010. Empire Group Holdings was incorporated in Hong Kong, and was notable for forming joint ventures with other real estate developers in the bidding of the leasehold of Government Land, such as the

Hong Kong Ferry Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings) Company Limited () is a holding company in Hong Kong involved in property development, ferry, shipyard, travel and hotel operations. It operated government-granted monopoly, franchised ferry services in Hong Kong unt ...

in August 2016 and

Sino Land Established in 1971, Sino Group () comprises three listed companies – Sino Land Company Limited (HKSE: 083), Tsim Sha Tsui Properties Limited (HKSE: 0247), Sino Hotels (Holdings) Limited (HKSE: 1221) – and private companies held by the Ng Fa ...

in October 2016. The group also acquired the rights to re-develop and operate the former site of the Mariners' Club in

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui ( zh, c=尖沙咀), often abbreviated as TST, is an list of areas of Hong Kong, area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed ...

, despite not owning the re-developed properties. In 2012, Kwok's younger brothers Thomas and Raymond, as well as

Rafael Hui Rafael Hui Si-yan (born 8 February 1948) is a former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong and career civil servant. Hui has been dubbed "Old Master Hui" () and "Fat Dragon" (). Hui was appointed as a Justice of the Peace on 1986 ...

, previously the second-highest ranking government official in Hong Kong, were arrested by the city's

anti-corruption agency An anti-corruption agency is a special police agency specialised in fighting political corruption and engaging in general anti-corruption activities. Most are founded by statute, but some have a constitutional status. List * : Oficina Anticorru ...

on suspicion of bribery. Thomas Kwok and Rafael Hui were sentenced to prison, while Raymond Kwok was acquitted. It is suggested that Walter Kwok, who was not arrested, provided information to the authorities in retaliation for his ousting from Sun Hung Kai Properties. Kwok also sued his brothers to revoke the agreement on the distribution of the family fortune. According to his testimony in the court proceedings, he received some real estate in the United States, but of lesser value than what his brothers received.

Personal life

Kwok's parents introduced him to Lydia Ku Chee-yung, the daughter of a wealthy businessman from Shanghai, whom he married on 15 September 1982, but the marriage broke up six months later. Kwok married Wendy Lee Ting-wing in 1983. They had two sons, Geoffrey and Jonathan, and a daughter. Kwok died at

Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Stubbs Road Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Stubbs Road () is one of two Seventh-day Adventist hospitals in Hong Kong, the other being Hong Kong Adventist Hospital – Tsuen Wan. It is a private hospital, and is located on Stubbs Road, on Hong Kong Isla ...

on 20 October 2018, two months after suffering a stroke. He was 68.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwok, Walter 1950 births 1990s missing person cases 2018 deaths Alumni of Imperial College London Formerly missing people Hong Kong Affairs Advisors Hong Kong billionaires Hong Kong chief executives Hong Kong businesspeople in real estate Kidnapped businesspeople Kidnapped Hong Kong people

Walter Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...