The war of words at the Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) empire continued last night when the company issued a second announcement on behalf of the 81-year-old matriarch, Kwong Siu-hing, reiterating that the plan to reorganise the family trust had not been changed.
'In response to media inquiries regarding the reorganisation of the Kwok family discretionary trusts, and due to some erroneous media reports in the last several days, the spokesperson of Sun Hung Kai Properties reiterates ... on behalf of [chairman] Madam Kwong Siu-hing, [that] the group issued a press release regarding the reorganisation of the trusts on October 4, 2010, and the contents of this press release remain valid and unchanged.'
Hours after the announcement, ousted chairman Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, through a spokesman, said he 'disagrees with the statement'.
The latest round of the feud was sparked by Kwok, who told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that he had not been cut out of the family trust. His comments are at odds with the October 4 statement from the property giant, which indicated that he had been removed as a beneficiary from a key trust controlling the HK$345.67 billion group.
In the Thursday interview, Kwok, the eldest scion of the Kwok clan, challenged the October 4 statement. 'Who is the spokesman of SHKP on behalf of my mother?' he said. 'I come out to speak for her.'
The company's shares fell 0.37 per cent yesterday to HK$134.50.