‘Lawful’ capital welcome in Hong Kong, treasury chief says as Dubai prince Ali Al Maktoum plans to return for US$500 million family office opening
- Treasury chief Christopher Hui says city has variety of policies and strategies to attract institutions to establish family offices
- Maktoum’s top aide in city reveals prince to return no later than June for opening ceremony of family office
Hong Kong will welcome all “lawful and rule-compliant” capital, the treasury chief has said after a top aide to Sheikh Ali Rashed Ali Saeed Al Maktoum reaffirmed the Dubai prince’s plan to return to the city to inaugurate his US$500 million family office.
“Hong Kong has adopted various policies and strategies to attract different institutions to come and establish family offices,” Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said on Wednesday. “These efforts are continuous.
“Any capital, as long as lawful and rule-compliant, is welcome in Hong Kong,” he said after an antechamber meeting with lawmakers.
Hui was speaking after the aide said that Maktoum would return to the city by June to attend the opening ceremony of his family office, meet potential business partners and take part in charitable activities.
The prince, who apparently had an alter ego as singer-songwriter Alira before he transitioned to a sustainability-focused investor last year, called off the original inauguration at the eleventh hour in March because of “urgent, unexpected private matters”.
His office later announced the opening had been rescheduled to the end of May.
Eleanor Jane Mak, CEO of the prince’s Hong Kong-based office, told the Post on Tuesday that the date for the inauguration could be in June because of scheduling and other considerations.
The prince was at first reported to be a nephew of Dubai’s ruler and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, but later identified as a member of a distant branch of the family.
Findings from an InvestHK-commissioned consultant showed that about 2,700 family offices operated in the city as of the end of last year.
More than 130 family offices are planning to set up or expand their operations in Hong Kong, with about 60 per cent of them based in mainland China, Hui told lawmakers in a written reply in April.
He added the InvestHK team was confident it could achieve the target of helping at least 200 family offices to establish or expand their operations in Hong Kong by the end of 2025, a goal set out in city leader John Lee Ka-chiu’s 2022 policy address.
