Rags-to-riches tales in Hong Kong
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 4, 2012
Yue-Kong Pao
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Yue-Kong Pao is Chinese shipping tycoon. [File Photo] |
Pao was born in 1918 in Ningbo of east China's Zhejiang Province. As a Chinese shipping tycoon, Pao was one of 12 Chinese billionaires with assets topping US$1 billion. In 1978, Pao scaled the heights of his shipping business, making him one of the world's top ten shipping tycoons. He was the founder of World-Wide Shipping Group. He was the first Chinese board member of the UK-funded HSBC Bank. In 1976, he was knighted by the Queen of England. Also, he was a generous donator. Pao died in 1991.
In early 1949, Pao and his father came to Hong Kong to start business. In 1955, Pao set up the World-Wide Shipping Group. He reached an agreement with a Japanese shipping company and sublet a ship to transport coal from India to Japan. After that he began to handle the long-term rental of ships. In the early 1960s, Pao extended his ship rental business to British and American oil companies, from which he profited in the long run and distinguished himself as the "King of the Sea." In the 1970s, he gradually shifted his focus to real estate. Some of his property was invested to the booming real estate industry, including the hotel and transportation business. In the mid 1970s, Pao bought from Li Ka-Shing a ten percent holding of Wharf Holdings and by 1980, he had expanded this to 30%. In 1985, Pao won the British-owned Wheelock's stake with 500 million Singapore dollars, making him the second Hong Kong citizen to manage one of the four British-funded banks. The first is Li Ka-shing, who owns Hutchison Whampoa. In 1986, Pao snapped up a 14.5 percent stake of another note-issuing bank, Standard Chartered Bank, making himself the bank's largest individual shareholder.
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