Samuel Tak Lee or Lee Tak-Yee (; born April 1939) is a Hong Kong property

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least 1,000,000,000, one billion units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. It is a sub-category of the concept of the ultr ...

Early life

Lee was born in April 1939. He was educated at

Diocesan Boys' School The Diocesan Boys' School (DBS) is a day and boarding Anglican boys' school in Hong Kong, located at 131 Argyle Street, Hong Kong, Argyle Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon. The school's mission is "to provide a liberal education based on Christianity ...

Mong Kok Mong Kok (Chinese language, Chinese: 旺角), also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK, is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward, Hong Kong, Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. As one of the major sho ...

, before earning bachelor's and master's degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1964. Lee then earned an MBA from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Career

After finishing his studies, Lee returned to Hong Kong to join Prudential Enterprise, the real estate company founded by his father and uncle in 1958. He took control of the entire business from his brother Lee Tak-Yan in 1985. Prudential Enterprises owns the Prudential Hotel in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and has significant holdings in Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore. In the UK, he purchased the 14 acre

Langham Estate The Langham Estate is a property estate in Fitzrovia, London, and is owned by the Mount Eden Land Limited (Guernsey). The company controls 14 acres of real estate in central London. A third of its property portfolio was sold in 2024. Backgroun ...

in London's

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia ( ) is a district of central London, England, near the West End. Its eastern part is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in ...

district in 1994. A real estate portfolio Lee indirectly established in Tokyo in 1999 was eventually sold in 2017 for approximately $1.2 billion. By 2019 Lee had become the largest shareholder in Shaftesbury plc a large London real estate investment trust with a 26.3 per cent stake. There was persistent media speculation that Lee would eventually bid for control of Shaftesbury. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' also reported that Lee was suing Shaftesbury for £10.4 million in alleged losses over a share placing. His interest in Shaftesbury was subsequently sold at a discount to

Capco Capco is a British business and technology management consultancy, operating primarily in the financial services and energy sectors. Capco's operational headquarters are in London, England (approx. 1,500 consultants), with 32 offices across the ...

for $544 million in June 2020. Lee has been noted for his vigorous defence of his estate's legal rights and business interests. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', he had a net worth of $3.6 billion, as of January 2021.

Philanthropy

In 2007, Lee donated HK$9 million to Hong Kong's Diocesan Boys' School, of which he was a student between 1951 and 1958. The donation was made to fund residential student growth with a new dormitory block for the school. One of Lee's sons was studying at the school at that time. Lee donated $118 million in 2015 to the

, to be used to establish a real estate entrepreneurship lab focused on China. The lab has been researching the impact of poor urban air quality on residents' health, social lives and behaviour.

Personal life

Lee is married with seven children and lives between Hong Kong and London. He reportedly owns the yachts ''Pelorus'' and ''Kogo''. The Lee family reported owns a Boeing aircraft and a large car collection. Lee maintains a low profile and rarely speaks out about his many business dealings. According to media reports and court documents Lee has a colourful personal life. Samuel's son, Samathur Li Kin-kan, is famous for his divorce settlement, which the court of Hong Kong awarded his ex-wife HK$1.2 billion.

Gallery

File:Opening Ceremony of the Samuel Tak Lee Building at Diocesan Boys' School.webm, Opening Ceremony of the Samuel Tak Lee Building at

File:Samuel Tak Lee Building of Diocesan Boys' School.JPG, Samuel Tak Lee Building at Diocesan Boys' School File:Great Titchfield Street and Margaret Street, London.JPG, Lee's

Offices on Margaret Street, London File:Yacht Pelorus in Croatia - 01.jpg, Samuel Tak Lee yacht Pelorus

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Samuel Tak 1939 births Living people Hong Kong businesspeople in real estate Hong Kong billionaires Harvard Business School alumni MIT School of Engineering alumni Hong Kong philanthropists People educated at Diocesan Boys' School