Before the Kwok family feud erupted onto the front pages of Hong Kong's newspapers three months ago, 79-year-old matriarch Kwong Siu-hing was nothing if not low-profile.
Until yesterday, the new chairwoman and non-executive director of Sun Hung Kai Properties - Hong Kong's largest real estate developer, with a market value of HK$325 billion and more than 27,000 employees - had never sat on the board of a Hong Kong company.
Before the February falling-out that led to yesterday's ousting of her son Walter Kwok Ping-sheung as chairman and chief executive of the firm, Ms Kwong had not been mentioned in the pages of this newspaper since 1990.
That was the year Ms Kwong's husband, Sun Hung Kai founder Kwok Tak-seng, died. Walter Kwok subsequently took the helm of the family business, with brothers Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen at his side.
Walter Kwok's 18 years at the top came to an end yesterday when he was demoted to non-executive director. Thomas and Raymond, both vice-chairmen and managing directors, will jointly assume the chief executive's role.
The surprise announcement was the appointment of Ms Kwong as chairwoman. While it confirmed publicly the influence she has exerted privately over her sons and the company's affairs in the past few months, she is not perhaps the most obvious person to head Hong Kong's foremost property empire.