香港富豪快“交班”了
作者：英国《金融时报》刘励和(Justine Lau)报道
2008年7月8日 星期二
在亚洲的企业界，家族势力地位显赫，该地区1000家最大的公司有三分之二控制在家族手中。
香港也不例外。新加坡国立大学(National University of Singapore)教授杨伟聪(Henry Yeung)表示，富豪家族在香港四分之三的企业中拥有控股权或相当大的股份。他对“家族企业”的定义是指那些由两个或两个以上家族成员拥有或管理的企业。
尽管家族企业帝国在每个国家都存在，但香港的情况有所不同，因为其财富创造的历史很短。由于许多第一代企业大亨计划在未来几年内引退，移交问题是许多投资者最关注的。
香港是很多移民的家园，他们在1949年中国共产党夺取政权后从中国内地逃到这里。
许多公司的创始人在20世纪50、60年代开创了自己的企业，而且还在掌管它们。现在快到时候让下一代接手了。
据《福布斯》(Forbes)计算，在香港，最富有的10个家族拥有的总净值超过1200亿美元。他们中的一半人都超过了70岁，包括同时担任长江实业(Cheung Kong Holdings)与和记黄埔(Hutchison Whampoa)主席的亚洲首富李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)。
香港一直迷醉于这些大亨们奢侈的生活方式——他们之中的许多人是靠地产业务发家致富的，而地产行业乃是香港经济的支柱。
时尚杂志会整页整页地讲述他们的故事：他们住在哪儿、他们跟谁约会、他们穿什么以及他们参加了哪个舞会。
同时，人们对香港企业界正在进行的大规模财富交接也越发兴趣浓厚。
作为香港主要的电视台，香港电视广播(Television Broadcasts)百岁高龄的创始人邵逸夫爵士(Sir Run Run Shaw)正在洽谈出售其在该公司26%的股权。
与香港大多数富人家庭不同的是，邵逸夫的子女对接管他的企业没有表现出太大的兴趣。
去年，曾经的亚洲女首富、没有子嗣的龚如心(Nina Wang)去世，引发了一场备受瞩目的遗产争夺战。争夺一方是一位深居简出的商人，另一方则是由龚如心的同胞弟妹及华懋集团(Chinachem)高管控制的慈善基金会。华懋集团是龚如心旗下的房地产公司。
2006年，亲北京的香港大亨霍英东(Henry Fok)逝世，享年83岁。他的资产传给了包括他的儿子霍震霆(Timothy Fok)和霍震寰(Ian Fok)在内的后代人。霍震霆和霍震寰在福布斯香港富豪榜上位列第九，估计拥有净资产45亿美元。
更多的第二代大亨目前正计划与霍氏兄弟一样，继承他们父辈的巨额财富。
作为香港最有权势的商人，李嘉诚到7月份就80岁了。身价约320亿美元、有两个儿子的他暗示，在他退休后，其更加保守的长子李泽钜(Victor Li)将继承产业。而他那位更具创业精神的次子李泽楷(Richard Li)，多年前就已经自创门户，如今控制着香港最大的固话电信公司电讯盈科(PCCW)。
李嘉诚去年告诉英国《金融时报》：“泽钜在他22岁时就加入了长江实业，是从基层开始干起的。泽楷有他自己的公司，不大可能会重新回到长江实业或者和记黄埔。不过，我在海外拥有自己的企业，等到时机成熟时，泽楷可能会帮助管理它们。”
将权力传承给第二代可能需慎重对待，因为他们通常不像他们的父辈一样人脉广泛、成就斐然——即使他们中有许多人都已经获得了著名大学的MBA学位。
杨伟聪表示：“那些不够格的接班人将会惹恼职业经理人，他们可能会辞职，加盟你的竞争对手。或者他们会作出一些愚蠢的投资决定，烧光你的钱。”
家族矛盾是另外一个危险。在他们的父亲1990年去世后，郭氏三兄弟就掌控了香港最大的地产开发商新鸿基地产(Sun Hung Kai Properties)。直到最近，他们还一直被称为最成功的继承案例。
但在5月份，在大哥郭炳湘(Walter Kwok)与弟弟郭炳联(Raymond Kwok)、郭炳江(Thomas Kwok)之间爆发惨烈的权力争夺战之后，新鸿基地产董事局免除了郭炳湘的主席一职，取而代之的是其79岁的母亲。
香港中文大学(Chinese University of Hong Kong)教授范博宏(Joseph Fan)研究了1987年到2005年间发生在香港、新加坡和台湾的217个家族继承案例。他发现，在企业所有权和控制权发生代际变更的前5年和后1年，经市场指数调整的公司股价平均下跌了56%。
范博宏表示：“企业价值在继承过程中的减损程度令人惊心。”
不过，创始人还是会继续把公司财富移交给他们最喜爱的儿女，希望他们能够继承其长期的业务往来和人际脉络。
尽管家族继承并非亚洲的独有现象，但长期以来形成的业务联系和人际关系的重要性经常会给管理交接带来额外的复杂性。
范博宏表示：“那些创始人不是白痴，他们知道自己的儿子可能不是最有能力的人，但他们知道自己的儿子能够继承那些无形资产。”
一些大亨的子女一直在承担日益令人瞩目的角色，做好接管企业和关系网的准备。
今年1月份，香港第三大富豪李兆基(Lee Shau-kee)的长子李家杰(Peter Lee)成立了百仁基金(Centum Charitas Foundation)。
这个慈善基金会的大多数成员都是一些最显赫的香港商界和政界领袖的子女。
今年，香港政府聘请霍英东的孙子霍启刚(Kenneth Fok)、亲北京的商人曾宪梓(Tsang Hin-chi)的次子曾智雄(Tsang Chi-hung)，担任中央政策组(Central Policy Unit)的非全职顾问。中央政策组是港府的智囊机构。
尽管存在所有这些困难，但家族继承依然可行。冯氏兄弟冯国经(Victor Fung)和冯国纶(William Fung)把他们祖父创立的香港贸易公司利丰集团(Li & Fung)成功转变成了全球最大的贸易采购公司之一。
中国有句老话：“富不过三代”。但这句话对冯氏兄弟不适用。
译者/董琴
阅读本文章英文,请点击 TYCOONS WHO AIM TO KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY
TYCOONS WHO AIM TO KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY
By Justine Lau
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Families loom large in corporate Asia, controlling two thirds of the region's 1,000 biggest companies.
Hong Kong is no exception. Families control or have substantial stakes in three-quarters of the territory's businesses, according to Henry Yeung, a professor at the National University of Singapore. He defines “family businesses” as those owned or managed by two or more family members.
While corporate family empires exist in every country, the situation in Hong Kong is different because of its short history of wealth creation. Because many first-generation tycoons are set to step down in the coming years, transition issues are at the forefront of many investors' minds.
Hong Kong is home to a large number of immigrants who fled to the territory from mainland China after 1949, when the Chinese Communist party seized power.
Many companies' founding fathers started their businesses in the 1950s and 1960s and are still in charge. It is almost time for the next generation to take the helm.
In Hong Kong, the 10 richest families have a total estimated net worth of more than US0bn, as calculated by Forbes. Half of them, including Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest man and chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, are over 70.
Hong Kong has always been captivated by the lavish lifestyles of its tycoons – many made their fortunes in the property sector, a backbone of the economy.
Glossy magazines carry page upon page of stories about where they live, whom they date, what they wear and which balls they go to.
There is also an increasing interest in a massive transfer of wealth currently under way in corporate Hong Kong.
Sir Run Run Shaw, the centenarian founder of Television Broadcasts, Hong Kong's dominant TV station, is in talks to sell a 26 per cent stake in the company.
Unlike most rich families in the territory, Sir Run Run's children have not displayed much interest in running the business.
Last year, the death of childless Nina Wang, once Asia's richest woman, triggered a high-profile inheritance battle between a reclusive businessman and the charitable foundation controlled by her siblings and executives at Chinachem, her property company.
In 2006, Henry Fok, a prominent pro-Beijing magnate, died at the age of 83. His assets were passed on to descendants including sons Timothy and Ian, who are ranked ninth on Forbes' Hong Kong rich list with an estimated net worth of US.5bn.
Many more second-generation tycoons are now set to join the Brothers Fok and inherit their fathers' vast fortunes.
Mr Li, Hong Kong's most powerful businessman, turns 80 in July. The father-of-two, estimated to be worth USbn, has indicated that Victor, his older and more conservative son, will take over the reins when he retires. Richard, his more entrepreneurial second son, struck out independently many years ago, and today controls Hong Kong's largest fixed-line telecommunications company, PCCW.
“Victor joined Cheung Kong when he was 22, starting at the bottom rung,” Mr Li told the Financial Times last year. “Richard has his own business and will not likely return to Cheung Kong or Hutchison. However, I have personal businesses overseas, and Richard may help run those businesses when the time is right.”
Handing over power to the next generation can be tricky, as the children are not usually as well connected or accomplished as their fathers, even if many have obtained MBAs from prestigious universities.
“Those who are not up to it are going to annoy professional managers, who may resign and join your competitors,” says Mr Yeung at NUS. “Or they will burn all your money by making stupid investment decisions.”
Family conflict is another danger. The three Kwok brothers took control of Sun Hung Kai Properties, the territory's biggest property developer, after their father died in 1990. Until recently, they had been hailed as a prime example of successful transition.
Then in May, SHKP's board removed Walter, the eldest, as chairman and replaced him with his 79-year-old mother, following a bitter power struggle pitting Walter against his two brothers, Raymond and Thomas.
Joseph Fan, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has studied 217 family successions in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan between 1987 to 2005. He found that companies' market-adjusted share prices dropped an average of 56 per cent in the five years preceding – and the one year following – a generational change in ownership and control.
“This extent of value destruction in succession is alarming,” says Mr Fan.
Still, founders are likely to continue to transfer corporate wealth to their favourite sons and daughters in the hope that they will be able to inherit their long-standing business contacts and networks.
Although family succession is not unique to Asia, the long- established significance of connections and relationships often brings additional complications for management transfers.
“The founders are not idiots,” says Mr Fan. “They know their sons may not be the most capable ones, but they know their sons would be able to inherit those intangible assets.”
Some tycoons' children have been taking on increasingly high-profile roles as they prepare to assume control of businesses and networks.
In January, Peter Lee, the eldest son of Lee Shau-kee, Hong Kong's third richest man, formed Centum Charitas Foundation.
Most of the charity's members are the sons and daughters of some of Hong Kong's most prominent business and political leaders.
This year, the Hong Kong government enlisted Kenneth Fok, grandson of Henry, and Tsang Chi-hung, son of pro-Beijing businessman Tsang Hin-chi, to be part-time members of the Central Policy Unit, an advisory body.
Notwithstanding all the difficulties, family succession can work. Brothers Victor and William Fung have transformed Li & Fung, a Hong Kong-based trading company founded by their grandfather, into one of the world's largest trade sourcing firms.
In doing so Victor and William have defied the rich man's curse – namely that “wealth”, as the Chinese saying has it, “cannot survive three generations”.经济观察,香港富豪快“交班”了
