Peter Lim (born 21 May 1953) is a Singaporean business magnate who was a stockbroker, and is now a private investor who has invested in sectors ranging from
palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced fr ...
to medicine. In 2019,
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
ranked him as the 10th richest person in Singapore with a net worth of US$2.5 billion. He is a shareholder of English club
Salford City and the owner of Spanish
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
club
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the S ...
since 2014.
In 2010, Lim won the biggest libel payout in Singapore's history in the Raffles Town Club saga.
Early life
The son of a fishmonger,
Lim and his seven siblings grew up in a two-bedroom government flat in the
Bukit Ho Swee public housing estate.
Lim completed his secondary school education at the
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...
.
After
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
, he went to Perth to study at the
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...
.
To fund his university education, Lim worked part-time doing odd jobs as a taxi driver, cook and waiter.
It was while working at Australian fast-food chain
Red Rooster
Red Rooster is an Australian fast food restaurant chain founded in 1972 that specialises in roast chicken, chicken burgers and fried chicken. Their product range includes whole roasts, half roasts, wraps, burgers, salads, beverages and desser ...
that he learnt how business was done. Lim studied how they started, how they grew, and how they scaled up.
He graduated with a degree in accounting and finance and first worked as an accountant and did some tax consultancy before going into stocks.
Early career
In the early 1990s, Lim invested about US$10 million in a start-up palm-oil company,
Wilmar.
In 2010, Lim cashed out at the peak of commodity prices and sold his Wilmar shares for US$1.5 billion.
Known as the "Remisier King" due to his success in stocks, Lim explains that while there was an element of luck, it was also because he created a role for himself as a "one man merchant bank" in the M&A space in Indonesia in the late 80s.
Lim quit the brokerage business in 1996 and became a private investor. He was able to escape the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis as he had liquidated most of his stocks and was holding cash.
Sports investment
In the sports sector, Lim owns a controlling stake (83%) in Spanish La Liga club
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the S ...
, a 40% stake in Salford City F.C (with former
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
players
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his entire professional career for Manchester United and briefly served as t ...
,
Gary Neville
Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...
,
Phil Neville,
Paul Scholes
Paul Scholes (born 16 November 1974) is an English football coach, pundit, former player, and co-owner of Salford City. He spent his entire professional playing career with Manchester United, for whom he scored over 150 goals in more than 70 ...
,
Nicky Butt
Nicholas Butt (born 21 January 1975) is an English football coach and former player who was most recently the head of first-team development at Manchester United. He is also a co-owner and chief executive officer of Salford City.
He played pro ...
and
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending f ...
holding the other 60%), stakes in British supercar maker McLaren Automotive and Hotel Football next to Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. Since becoming majority shareholder of Valencia CF in 2014, the club has qualified for the UEFA Champions League only 3 times, but also won the Copa del Rey in 2019. After six years of ownership, the club consistently underperformed and achieved some of the poorest results in its modern history. Separately, Salford City achieved 4 promotions in 5 seasons to reach
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...
in 2019. Salford City also won the delayed 2020
Papa John's Trophy after beating Portsmouth 4–2 on penalties.
In May 2014, Lim was designated by the Fundación Valencia CF as the buyer of 70.4% of the shares owned by the club's foundation. After months of negotiations between Lim and
Bankia
Bankia () was a Spanish financial services company that was formed in December 2010, consolidating the operations of seven regional savings banks, and was partially nationalized by the government of Spain in May 2012 due to the near collapse of ...
(the main creditor of the club), an agreement was reached in August 2014.
Nuno Espírito Santo
Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), often referred to as simply Nuno, is a Portuguese football manager and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al ...
was hired as head manager on 2 July 2014, which was one of the conditions Lim had insisted on when buying the club.
This raised eyebrows in the media because of Nuno's close relationship with the football agent
Jorge Mendes
Jorge Paulo Agostinho Mendes (born 7 January 1966) is a Portuguese football agent. He is registered with the Portuguese Football Federation and heads the GestiFute company, founded in 1996. Mendes is among the most influential football agents in ...
, whose first-ever client was Nuno. Lim and Mendes are also close friends and business partners. Regardless, Nuno's first season was a successful one. Notable signings included
Álvaro Negredo
Álvaro Negredo Sánchez (; born 20 August 1985) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Cádiz as a striker.
Nicknamed ''La fiera de Vallecas'' (The beast of Vallecas), he has played for Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid B, Almería, ...
,
André Gomes
André Filipe Tavares Gomes (; born 30 July 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lille, on loan from club Everton.
He played three years at Benfica, where he won the domestic ...
and
Enzo Pérez, who had just won the
LPFP Primeira Liga Player of the Year in the
Portuguese Primeira Liga. Valencia finished the
2014–15 season in fourth place for Champions League qualification with 77 points, just one point ahead of Sevilla after a dramatic final week, defeating
Granada
Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...
4–0.
Valencia had a poor start to the
2015–16 season, winning 5 out of 13 matches and failing to progress from the
Champions League group stages. The fans were also increasingly concerned about the growing influence of Jorge Mendes in the club's activities. On 29 November, Nuno resigned as manager and former
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
defender
Gary Neville
Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...
was hired as his replacement on 2 December. Valencia went winless for nine matches before earning their first win under Neville in a 2–1 victory at home against Espanyol. On 30 March 2016, Neville was sacked after recording the lowest win percentage in La Liga history for a Valencia manager with minimum of five matches, winning just 3 out of 16 matches. He was replaced by
Pako Ayestarán, who was brought in by Neville as the assistant coach just one month prior. Valencia finished the season in 12th position, even despite having the 4th biggest budget in the competition.
In the summer of 2016,
André Gomes
André Filipe Tavares Gomes (; born 30 July 1993) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lille, on loan from club Everton.
He played three years at Benfica, where he won the domestic ...
and
Paco Alcácer were both sold to Barcelona and
Shkodran Mustafi was sold to Arsenal, while
Ezequiel Garay
Ezequiel Marcelo Garay González (; born 10 October 1986) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender.
He started his career with Newell's Ol ...
and former
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
player
Nani were brought in.
Pako Ayestarán was sacked on 21 September 2016 after four-straight defeats at the beginning of the
2016–17 season. Former
Italy national team head coach
Cesare Prandelli was hired as his replacement on 28 September. However, he resigned after just three months on 30 December, claiming the club had made him false transfer promises. Days later, on 7 January 2017, Valencia sporting director
Jesús García Pitarch also resigned, saying he felt like he was being used as a shield for criticism by the club and that he could not defend something he no longer believed in.
Voro was named caretaker manager for the fifth time until the end of season, with Valencia in 17th position and in danger of relegation. However, results improved under Voro and he steered Valencia clear off relegation, ultimately finishing the season in 12th place. On 27 March, Mateu Alemany was named the new director general of Valencia.
The club also announced club president Lay Hoon Chan had submitted her resignation and that she would be replaced by
Anil Murthy
Anil or Anıl may refer to:
People
* Anil (given name), an Indian given name (including a list of persons with the name)
* Anıl (given name), a Turkish given name (including a list of persons with the name)
* Anil (director), active in the Malay ...
. After rumours arose of Lim's attempts at selling the club, Murthy assured the fans and local media that Valencia was a long-term project for both him and Lim, and they would not consider selling the club. For the following season, former Villarreal coach
Marcelino was named the new manager on 12 May.
After a successful first season under Marcelino, the club secured 4th position and a return to the
Champions League. Valencia also reached the semi-finals of the
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
. On 25 May 2019, Valencia won the
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...
for the first time since
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...
, upsetting FC Barcelona in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
* Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
. However, both
Marcelino and sporting director
Mateu Alemany, were fired on 11 September 2019 after falling out with Lim.
The manager was replaced by
Albert Celades, who was eventually sacked after a run of poor results despite earlier qualifying for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages, while new sports director
César Sanchez resigned that same season,
making six different managers and another six sports directors by 2020.
For season 2020–21, manager
Javi Gracia was hired. He was put in charge of a team of young prospects and lower profile players after failing to sign any player during summer transfer season, while the club was selling key players such as captain
Dani Parejo
Daniel Parejo Muñoz (; born 16 April 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Villarreal.
After starting out at Real Madrid, he first made a name in La Liga with Getafe. Transferring to Valencia i ...
, who left for free to regional rivals
Villarreal
Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain.
The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...
.
Ferran Torres
Ferran Torres García (born 29 February 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team.
Torres began his career at Valencia, where he made his senior debut in 2017 ...
was sold to
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...
for half his market value, as he refused to renew his contract and attempted to leave for free.
Overall, Valencia sold players worth 85 million dollars in order to rebalance the club's books.
These arrangements allowed the club to continue paying salaries to the players, which failed to do at the beginning of the season. During the winter season, the club reinforced the team with three loan signings, Italian striker
Patrick Cutrone, Uruguayan midfielder
Christian Oliva, and central defender
Ferro. After six seasons under Peter Lim's ownership,
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the S ...
began to pay the banks, which it was financially unable to do previously. The club thus far has accumulated loses of 323 million euros in the club.
His management resulting in player sell-offs and lack of inward transfers has been criticised by Valencia's fans,
players such as
Geoffrey Kondogbia, and managers and directors such as
Cesare Prandelli,
Javier Subirats, and Javi Gracia.
In October 2021, Peter Lim co-founded ZujuGP with his son. ZujuGP is envisioned as a digital platform to digitize the live game experience for fans by providing entertainment, networking and e-commerce options. It will also build an ecosystem of services for teams to recruit players, club personnel, train and mentor aspiring players powered by its open source, AI-driven platform.
ZujuGP is endorsed by Manchester United star
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
who is a long time friend and partner of Peter Lim.
Philanthropy
In June 2010 the Singapore Olympic Foundation (SOF) set up the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship with a S$10 million donation from Lim. The gift is the single largest donation in Singapore from an individual towards sports development. The recipients are typically students who come from financially challenged backgrounds and have demonstrated a potential to excel in their respective sports. In 2019, Lim further pledged to continue supporting young local athletes for another 10 years from 2021 to 2030 by donating another S$10 million to the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship.
Since the inception of the scholarship, 2642 student-athletes have received scholarships amounting to $7.2 million.
Lim further committed a separate $20 million to start a new community project focused on helping children from less privileged backgrounds, with the aim of helping them reach their potential.
In 2014, Lim also endowed Nanyang Technological University with S$3 million to fund a professorship in peace studies at the
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
The S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) is an autonomous graduate school in Singapore, and policy-oriented think tank within the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Founded in 1996 as the Institute of Defence and Strategi ...
to protect and promote harmony in Singapore.
References
External links
Bio at ''Forbes''Write-up at ''The Wall Street Journal''Singapore Olympic Foundation–Peter Lim Scholarship
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Peter
1953 births
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Raffles Institution alumni
University of Western Australia alumni
Singaporean billionaires
Singaporean chief executives
Singaporean investors
Singaporean people of Chinese descent
Singaporean soccer chairmen and investors
Singaporean stockbrokers
Singaporean taxi drivers
McLaren people
Salford City F.C. chairmen and investors