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Family feud led to departure of HK property executive

Disputes between three billionaire brothers who run one of Hong Kong's largest property companies led to the sudden departure of the eldest sibling, who is also the company's chief executive, newspapers reported yesterday.

Sun Hung Kai Properties (新鴻基地產), one of Hong Kong's most high-profile real-estate firms, announced two weeks ago that chairman and chief executive Walter Kwok (郭炳湘) would take a leave of absence for personal reasons and hand over duties to his younger brothers Raymond Kwok (郭炳聯) and Thomas Kwok (郭炳江), who are both managing directors at the company.

Yesterday, newspapers quoted family friend and fellow property tycoon Lee Shau-kee (李兆基) as saying that Walter Kwok had decided to take a leave of absence after arguing with his brothers at a board meeting two weeks ago.

Lee, a non-executive director at Sun Hung Kai, said he participated in the meeting by teleconference, Ming Pao Daily News reported.

Lee said the three brothers "had a lot of different opinions" on investments and land-buying strategies, so their mother, Kwong Siu-hing (鄺肖卿), asked Walter Kwok to take leave, the paper reported.

"She just didn't want to see the brothers' relations strained," Lee was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post.

Sun Hung Kai didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The three brothers were ranked No. 31 on Forbes magazine's billionaires list last year with a combined net worth of US$15 billion.
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