Exclusive | New World’s Harvard-educated scion upends Hong Kong developers’ ‘build and sell’ business model as city sits at crossroads
- Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, a third-generation scion of the family that controls New World Development, is charting a different course as Hong Kong stands at a crossroads
- The 41-year-old father of three wants to engage with stakeholders through innovation, culture and artistry
Cheng Yu-tung, one of Hong Kong’s best-known tycoons, spared no expense when he led a 1985 effort to build a harbourfront convention centre to host the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty 12 years later.
Construction activity on the US$322 million project was a gesture of confidence in a city clawing its way out of recession, buffeted by the exchange of barbs between Chinese negotiators and the city’s then colonial master, Britain.
This time, the late magnate’s eldest grandson Adrian Cheng Chi-kong is charting a different course to restore the community’s confidence. New World Development, a HK$102 billion (US$13.2 billion) conglomerate of 44,000 employees working in a range of cradle-to-grave businesses that touch on everything from education and health care to property and insurance, is evolving, said Cheng, who turned 41 in November.
“Developers usually focus on how to increase gross floor area and maximise profits. We also make profits and we gain premiums [for shareholders], but we have a balance,” said Cheng, a father of three, in an interview with South China Morning Post. “We are still a property developer, but we are a developer of hardware and software services that enrich our customers’ lives.”
