Gale Well Group founder profits ‘handsomely’ by taking the long term view on Hong Kong property
Jacinto Tong Man-leung took a a HK$5 million family fund in 1976 and grew it into a portfolio that’s worth more than HK$35 billion today
Jacinto Tong Man-leung grew up in Macau and furthered his studies in Canada. He came to Hong Kong in 1976 and founded the property investment firm Gale Well Group. With a HK$5 million family fund, he graduately grew the portfolio to today’s HK$35 billion to HK$40 billion. The Gale Well portfolio includes Austin Plaza, the China Insurance Building in Tsim Sha Tsui, Butterfly Hotel in Wan Chai, and the Jade Beach Villa in Stanley.
As two of Hong Kong’s tycoons, Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau-kee, have expressed a dim market outlook for the city economy and property market, will you cash in your investment properties before a deepening market correction?
I have a strict investment discipline. I believe holding properties for 10 to 20 years will provide an unbelievably handsome profit. Those who flip properties for short term gain will only generate a meagre profit compared with long term holders.
Does that mean the best strategy for investors is to sit on investment properties and receive rental income?
I don’t mean investors should just hold their portfolio without doing anything. For me, I will call up the management executives to review our investment portfolio at the beginning of every year. In every portfolio, there are properties under performing because of ageing or yields affected by the changing environment in the project’s nearby area. We will single out these under performing assets and dispose of them in a buoyant market. These assets can still fetch good prices in a robust market.
Those who flip properties for short term gain will only generate a meagre profit compared with long term holders
In contrast, we will look for quality assets at bargain prices in a depressed market. For instance, the company sold its former office located on the 12th floor of The Sun’s Group Centre in Wan Chai in 2014. And we used the proceeds to buy the 26th floor in the same building and used it as our new office. Now, we can enjoy a better view at lower prices.