Hong Kong, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 18th Mar, 2025) Hong Kong’s second-richest man Lee Shau-kee has died aged 97, the property tycoon’s firm Henderson Land Development announced Monday.
Lee died peacefully on Monday evening in the company of his family, Henderson said in a press release.
Known as “Uncle Four” because he had three elder siblings, Lee was one of the most influential players in Hong Kong’s post-war real estate boom and was also a shrewd stock market investor.
He was listed as the second wealthiest man in Hong Kong with a net worth of $29.2 billion, according to a Forbes list published in February.
During Lee’s tenure, Henderson cemented its place as one of the Chinese finance hub’s “big four” property developers, a dominant oligopoly that continues to shape life in the city.
The seven Hong Kong-listed companies of his empire had a combined market value of $71 billion at the time of his death, the South China Morning Post reported.
Lee retired late in life, only stepping down as chairman of Henderson in May 2019.
His sons Peter and Martin Lee took over as joint chairmen and managing directors.
Hong Kong’s original billionaires are held up locally as living symbols of the city’s economic rise and international clout, even as inequality remains rampant.
Like his tycoon peers, Lee kept close ties to Beijing and in 2013 voiced opposition to a Hong Kong civil disobedience movement calling for greater democracy.