33FEBRUARY 20 20 FORBES ASIAH
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By 1997, Tang had amassed more than 200
shops worth roughly HK$7.3 billion ($942 mil-
lion) and began planning an IPO, only to be
thwarted by the Asian financial crisis. Hong
Kong’s property market fell 70% between 1997
and 2004 as the crisis was followed by the out-
break of SARS in 2003. By 2004, with HK$4
billion in debt, Tang began selling most of his
portfolio, including his prized Mongkok Com-
puter Centre.
What he didn’t sell, however, was a smatter-
ing of industrial space he began buying in 1996
to hedge against volatile retail rental yields. And
Tang knew just where to buy. Hong Kong had de-
cided in 1990 to close Kai Tak and build a new,
larger airport on Lantau Island. So Tang focused
on Tuen Mun, a neighborhood directly across a
bay from the new airport and connected by road
to Hong Kong’s nearest neighbor in mainland
China, the fast-growing city of Shenzhen.
Tang starts drawing a rough map: “Let me tell
you about the factories on San Hop Lane,” he
says as he sketches out the streets and buildings
around his first purchase, Tuen Mun’s Oi Sun
Centre. Tang bought the former factory in fore-
closure for HK$42 million in 2004.
Up the street was Tins Plaza, the retired plas-
tics factory named for its former owner, chem-
ical tycoon-turned-philanthropist Tin Ka-ping.
Tang picked up the building in early 2005 for
HK$280 million, putting HK$28 million in cash
down and borrowing the rest from banks using
another of his buildings as collateral.
Six months later, Tang says he received a call
from an industrial property unit of Australia’s
Macquarie Bank, Macquarie Goodman, offering
him HK$500 million for the building. By Octo-
ber, he had a second offer, for HK$520 million,
from Singapore property investment fund Maple-
tree. “But that’s not even the best part,” Tang says.
Faced with rival offers, Tang chose neither.
Commercial property commands a higher price
than industrial property, he reasoned, so he had
Tins Plaza rezoned as commercial. Two years later,
“I’ve seen ups and downs. There
are opportunities out of risks.
This is my chance—my turn.”
1997 - 2004
Hong Kong’s property market fell 70% be-
tween the start of the Asia financial crisis
and the aftermath of the SARS outbreak
2018
Bundled his devel-
opment One Vista
with two other
industrial redevel-
opments and sold
70% to Jiayuan
International for
HK$2.6 billion
2006 - 2014
Bought the first of
Gold Sun Industrial
Building’s eight
floors. Completed
purchase of the en-
tire building eight
years later
2005 - 2008
Invested HK$280 mil-
lion to buy Tins Plaza
and tripled his money
in two years
2004
Sold Mongkok Computer
Centre. Bought his first
factory, Oi Sun Centre,
for HK$42 million
2010 - 2016
Hong Kong’s government implemented a revitalization
scheme to encourage redevelopment of disused industrial
properties. By the time the incentive ended in 2016, factory
prices had surged 152%.
2019
Tang became the
biggest buyer of
industrial proper-
ties in Hong Kong
‘97
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‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13 ‘14 ‘15 ‘16 ‘17 ‘18 ‘19
FACE LIFT
TANG’S INVESTMENTS HAVE RIDDEN A RISING TIDE FOR HONG KONG FACTORY PRICES SINCE
1997, WHEN HE WAS FORCED TO SELL OFF HIS SHOPS BUT KEPT BUYING INDUSTRIAL SPACE.
Private domestic
price index
(1999 = 100)
SOURCE: HONG KONG RATES AND VALUATION DEPT.