Feuding Kwok family reach ‘amicable agreement’ over SHKP property empire

The Kwok family, which controls Hong Kong's second-biggest developer, Sun Hung Kai Properties, announced yesterday that it had reached "an amicable agreement regarding the treatment of the family's interests" that control the HK$260 billion real estate empire.

It ends a five-year family feud that was one of the biggest in recent corporate history.

Kwong Siu-hing, the 84-year-old matriarch who controls SHKP through a family trust, said Walter Kwok Ping-sheung, one of her three sons, and his family "have received the same entitlement to shares in SHKP as his brothers and their families", according to a statement released by the company.

"Walter Kwok has decided to pursue opportunities outside the company, and has resigned from his position as a non-executive director of the company," it said.

Kwok, who was removed as a beneficiary of the family trust by his mother in 2010, said he would start a new phase of his life and concentrate on his own business.

"The talk [about his share of the family's interest] has lasted for a while," he told the South China Morning Post yesterday. "I am happy to see this outcome which reaches a consensus among all parties. I feel happy and relieved.