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MARCH 2020 FORBES ASIAHENDERSON LANDFrom top: Murray Road project (artist rendering) in Hong Kong’s
Central district and World Financial Centre in Beijing.ter a few years, he was handed a crucial assignment. “I was
given the mission to start the business in mainland China
from scratch, so it was not easy,” says Peter. Martin followed
in 1993, first as his father’s personal assistant. Both of them
became vice chairmen, Peter in 1993 and Martin in 2005.
The two are in sync on strategy. “We both agreed that we
wanted to stay, both in China and Hong Kong, and contin-
ue to build on his [Lee Shau Kee’s] achievements,” says Pe-
ter. The pair say their father from childhood handed down
(to them) his “golden rules” for success. “He taught us you
have to have a firsthand understanding of the market be-
fore we make a decision,” says Peter. “We can rely on reading
Forbes—it might tell us which city [to invest in], but where
in the city? For that, we have to dive deep.”
While Henderson Land is the flagship company behind
the family’s $30.4 billion fortune, the Lee family also con-
trols five other listed companies that span sectors such as
hotels, tourism and natural gas, as well as having numer-
ous private investments. Henderson has left an indelible
mark across Greater China’s urban landscapes. In Hong
Kong, it codeveloped Two International Finance Centre,
the city’s second-tallest skyscraper (the Lee family and
Henderson uses the 71st to 76th floors). It also developed
the World Financial Centre in Beijing and the Henderson
Metropolitan located on Shanghai’s prestigious Nanjing
road. In late February, the various listed companies con-
trolled by the family had a combined market capitalization
of over $50 billion.eter and Martin have a simple but elegant
division of responsibilities. As Peter created
the mainland China business, he continues
to run that. Martin, meanwhile, is respon-
sible for Hong Kong. Thus, the pair have
divided their roles by geography, and have the final say in
their respective markets. “There’s no challenging each oth-
er’s decision,” says Peter.
As far as strategy goes, they won’t reinvent their father’s
wheel. “We will continue to follow his management style,
there’s no point to change it, it is working well,” says Pe-
ter. “But of course, as the world evolves, the business mod-
el has to adapt.” One refinement, for example, is a rebal-
ancing by Martin of the portfolio in Hong Kong to focus on
more commercial projects—where Henderson has long de-
veloped residential ones.
The most immediate challenge is coping with current
conditions of recession and protests in Hong Kong, and
the coronavirus across Greater China. The numbers tell
the story: Henderson Land’s first-half underlying profit,
excluding revaluation gains on properties, dropped 52% to
HK$6.7 billion ($860 million) for the first half ended in
June last year. Revenue from property sales tumbled 68%
to HK$2.7 billion.
The brothers’ first priority is to keep their staff safe—
both from protests and the virus. Martin says new safety
and security measures have been adopted to ensure busi-
ness continuity. Henderson Land has been distributing freeface masks to staff. To support tenants, Hender-
son will cut rents for many in the retail sector by
20% to 60% in February to offset any lower rev-
enues. “Our father taught us that we have to not
just think about our interest but also think about
our partners’ interest,” says Martin.
Their father, they say, is unfazed—he’s lived
through plenty of ups and downs. “You see
the turmoil in Hong Kong, everybody’s so up-
set, but he says ‘This is nothing. I was in the
war when the Japanese were occupying Hong
Kong. This is nothing to worry about. Why are
you guys so worried?’” says Peter, with a chuck-
le. During the Asian financial crisis in 1998,
Lee’s net worth plunged $5 billion—the highest
loss in dollar terms for any Asian tycoon during
the crisis. Yet he declared in an interview with
Forbes at the time: “Hong Kong is still the best
place in the world to invest money. We are go-
ing full speed ahead.”P
COURTESY OF HENDERSON LAND (2)