Reuters Insider - Is Billionaire Robert Kuok Shifting Away From China?

Great Wall Pan Asia Holdings

15/12/2015 12:32

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 https://insider.thomsonreuters.com/link.html?cn=share&cid=1536552&shareToken=MzoyYTFlZGU5NC1mMjZmLTQxYWEtYTBmZi1lMTc2NjNjZDBkMmM%3D&playerName=ReutersNews 
                                                                       
 Source:             Thomson Reuters                                   
                                                                       
 Description:        ​Robert Kuok's move to sell ​Hong Kong's leading  
                     English-language newspaper, the South China       
                     Morning Post, to Chinese Internet giant Alibaba   
                     may be the start of a new trend of tycoons selling 
                     their assets in China.                            
 
 
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 Short Link:  http://reut.rs/1NmTonK  
 
 
Transcript (May be auto-generated)

                 Robert Kuok, one of Asia's richest men, is selling Hong Kong's leading English 
newspaper, The South China Morning Post to Chinese Internet giant Alibaba. 
Insiders say Mr. Kuok appears to be shifting his business focus away from the 
world's second largest economy. Malaysia's richest man has an estimated wealth 
of $9.4 billion, according to Forbes. The Chinese-Malaysian tycoon built his 
fortune by turning his father's sugar trading business into a sprawling empire. 
His most well-known brand is the luxury hotel chain, Shangri-la. He also owns 
real estate agribusiness, shipping, and media companies. Mr. Kuok is now selling
the SCMP more than 20 years after he took control of the publisher. The South 
China Morning Post was at one point one of the most profitable newspapers in the
world but the rise of the Internet has decimated ad revenues in recent years. 
Known for being a loyal friend to China, Robert Kuok was one of the few overseas
Chinese to invest in the Mainland in the 1980s and he secured prime real estate 
such as the China World Trade Center in Beijing. Today, his move may signal a 
new trend of selling assets as a new breed of Chinese homegrown billionaires 
emerged as willing buyers. Like business magnate Li Ka-Shing, Mr. Kuok is 
shrinking property developments in China where a slowing economy, competition, 
and an anti-corruption campaign have weighed on earnings