郭鹤年 Robert Kuok Hock-Nien (Malaysia)

The Sugar King; Hotel, Property And Media Tycoon

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Review Weekly

Biodata:

BORN:                    Oct. 6, 1923, in Johor Baru, Malaya

EDUCATION:            Raffles College, Singapore

FAMILY:                  Married twice, eight children

Robert Kuok Hock Nien is reputedly the richest man in Malaysia. While handing

more authority to the next generation, Kuok remains the man in charge, and

he is using the tough times to train his successors.

Kuok’s Youth

Kuok was born in 1923 in Johor Bahru, the son of a well-off commodities trader. 

His ancestral town was in Fujian province, China.

An old boy of Raffles College in Singapore, he was a schoolmate of Singapore's

Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew in the late 40s.  After graduation, he helped out

at his father’s company, and founded the Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd in 1949.

Acquiring the Mastery of Business

After founding the Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd, Kuok first started investing in the

sugar refinery business.  In 1957,  Malaya achieved independence from its

English colonial master.  Kuok immediately seized the opportunity to swiftly

establish his business network throughout Malaysia, based on an end-to-end

(raw materials Ú processing Ú distribution) business model.  He also

mastered the intricacies of commodities trading in London in the 50s.  By the

70s, he was known as the "Sugar King" as he controlled up to 10percent of the

global sugar market.

After proclaiming success in the sugar refinery business, he quickly moved into

other businesses, and established the largest flour mill in Malaysia.

Since the 60s, Kuok has relied heavily on his “gentlemanly” way of doing

business to become a mover and shaker in industry.  He was fast in spotting

opportunities from at home and abroad, and used his excellent connections

with government and industry to rapidly scale up his empire.  In this way, he

forged many strategic alliances with other parties.  With the government, he

joint hands to form a shipping company, and later built hotels, office buildings

and convention centres.  With partners, he founded banks.  Thus, through

business savvy, open-mindedness and his links, he has diversified into almost

everything under the sun.  Apart from a plethora of enterprises in Malaysia, he

operates in many other countries and regions like Singapore, Thailand, China,

Indonesia, Fiji and Australia.  His business interests span from sugarcane

plantations, sugar refinery, four milling, animal feed, oil and mining to finance,

hotels, properties, trading and freight.

Kuok currently controls the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts Chain, Kerry Group,

Perlis Plantations Bhd, and dozens of other companies.  In the Kuala Lumpur

Stock Exchange, under family-owned Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd, he commands a

market worth of RM2.1 billion (as of 1997), even though his publicly-traded

holdings worldwide is probably worth more than 10 times that.

Secret of His Success

When asked this, Kuoks aides will invariably say: “Mr Kuok is a true gentleman. 

He has the power to make his opponents yield willingly, and is a genuinely

amicable man.  And he makes it a personal effort to ensure that all his

employees embrace this ‘gentlemanly’ way of conducting business.”

Kuok’s gentlemanly ways are also well-recognised among his peers.  He has

many a time bailed out his contemporaries in distress, and furthermore, he

does not seek the limelight, preferring to live a life of thrift and simplicity,

winning him accolades and admiration near and far. 

Source: 

Asiaweek Power50 1999

Ethos, July/September 1997

http://www.wiseman.com.cn/gcxmavin/enterpriser/enterprisers/02.htm

Compiled and translated by Willie Hsu