Hong Kong prepares for life after the tycoons FEATURE 07/22/2010

Hong Kong prepares for life after the tycoons

FEATURE 07/22/2010 HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s billionaire tycoons enjoy a status close to royalty in Asia’s wealth-obsessed financial hub. The city’s richest man Li Ka-shing has the fame of a movie star, while the court case involving the will of eccentric pig-tailed billionaire Nina Wang last year enthralled Hong Kong with its brew of sex, money and power. But Wang’s death in 2007 and the hospitalization last year of casino tycoon Stanley Ho were a stark reminder that some of Hong Kong’s 40 richest tycoons — synonymous with its post-war economic success — are in their twilight years. They will leave behind eye-popping fortunes worth more than US$130 billion and vast business empires that control everything from supermarkets and property development to ports and telecoms. “Hong Kong in this respect is very special,” said Henry Hirzel, managing director of wealth management for Asia-Pacific at Swiss bank UBS. “The question is can this mega-wealth be kept together?” That will depend on whether Hong Kong’s super-rich families descend into squabbles and bitter lawsuits once their entrepreneurial patriarchs die, analysts said. To avoid huge fights over their fortunes, many aging tycoons create trusts leaving properties and other assets to specific family members..... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100722com3.html

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