Wheelock & Co, a Hong Kong-based real estate developer and parent of the city’s Wharf Holdings and Singapore’s Wheelock Properties, yesterday said its billionaire Chairman Peter Woo, 67, will step down and his son will take over the role.
Mr Douglas Woo, who was appointed as Managing Director effective July 1, will start as Chairman on Jan 1, according to a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Mr Peter Woo will remain on Wheelock’s board as a director.
Before joining Wheelock in 2005, Mr Douglas Woo worked as an analyst at UBS and was involved in acquisitions and asset management at UBS Triton Fund, according to a separate statement, which gave his age as 35. He has a degree in architecture from Princeton University, it said.
Wheelock said in June that Mr Douglas Woo’s salary in 2013 will be HK$10.6 million (S$1.72 million) on an annualised basis. The statement yesterday made no mention of his pay.
Mr Peter Woo’s net worth is US$7.8 billion (S$9.8 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He took over the management of Wheelock and Wharf in 1986 from his father-in-law, shipping tycoon Yue-kong Pao, who died in 1991.
Wheelock, founded in 1857, posted a 20 per cent drop in first-half net income to HK$10.8 billion in August.
Wheelock rose 0.4 per cent to HK$37.80 at the close of trading in Hong Kong yesterday. The stock has fallen 3.1 per cent this year, compared with the 5.1 per cent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.
Source : Today – 29 Nov 2013