This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Hong Kong’s Richest 2020. See the full list here.
Lee Yeow Chor and Lee Yeow Seng are the two sons of the late tycoon Lee Shin Cheng, and heirs to his IOI palm oil and property fortune. They debut on the list following their father’s death on June 1, two days shy of his 80th birthday.
Their shared $4.8 billion fortune shrunk 11% over the past year, due largely to a roughly 29% slump in IOI Properties Group shares, as an oversupply in the Malaysian property market weakened prices, among other factors such as the U.S.-China trade disputes, Brexit and weak commodities prices. Meanwhile, IOI Corp.’s shares fell less than 2% as concerns the corona-virus would hurt demand were offset by dry weather curtailing supplies. The company declined to comment.
Lee Shin Cheng had appeared on every Malaysian rich list since 2007. He built IOI Corp. into a $7 billion (market cap) palm oil giant with operations in eight countries and IOI Properties into a $1.7 billion (market cap) company. The two companies are commonly referred to together as the IOI group.
Lee Shin Cheng grew up poor on a rubber plantation, leaving school at 11 to help his family by selling ice cream from a bicycle, then returning to finish his schooling four years later. In 1961, he tried to get a job at plantation firm Dunlop Estates, but was rejected. “I was very disappointed but I decided to work harder and not give up,” Lee told a local newspaper in 2017.
Instead, he found work at a small rubber plantation and rose to become estate manager by the age of 30. He started what would become IOI Properties in 1975, acquired Industrial Oxygen Incorporated (the original name of IOI) in 1982, then entered palm oil. In an ironic twist, he bought Dunlop Estates in 1989.
Lee is survived by his wife Hoong May Kuan, his six children—including daughters Yoke Ling, Yoke Har, Yoke Hean, and Yoke Hui—as well as 12 grandchildren. Yeow Chor, 53, is IOI Corp.’s group managing director and CEO, and sits on IOI Properties’ board. Yeow Seng, 41 and a London-trained lawyer, is CEO of IOI Properties. He is married to Yeo Bee Yin, former environment minister for Malaysia. Their sister Lee Yoke Har is an executive director at IOI Properties.
