Lai Sun Garment bets on U Po-chu

While most of Hong Kong's property tycoons have launched succession plans to ensure a smooth transition of their business empires to the second and third generations, not every major developer is following the trend.

Lai Sun Garment surprised the market in November when it announced that 87-year-old U Po-chu, the wife of the group's late founder Lim Por-yen, had been redesignated as an executive director, from a non-executive director, with an annual salary of HK$3.6 million, plus a director's fee of HK$48,000 a year.

By contrast, Cheng Yu-tung, 86, quit as chairman and executive director of New World Development in February, while Li Ka-shing, 84, Asia's richest man and the chairman of Cheung Kong, in May publicly drew up his succession plans and arrangements for dividing his wealth between his two sons, Victor Li Tzar-kuoi and Richard Li Tzar-kai.

U is the mother of the firm's deputy chairman and controlling shareholder, Peter Lam Kin-ngok, and the grandmother of executive director Lester Lam Hau-yin.

"Unlike a non-executive director, the role of executive director involves hands-on operation. It is rare for a listed company to appoint an octogenarian for such a position," said Lee Wee Liat, head of research at BNP Paribas Securities.

Lai Sun Garment, the flagship of Lai Sun Group, used to engage in the garment-manufacturing and distribution business. It later developed and diversified into property development and investment in Hong Kong and on the mainland.