Who’s the 2nd Richest Man in HK? Lui Che, That’s Woo.
Macau’s casino explosion continues to drive wealth to the former Portuguese colony. The latest to benefit is Hong Kong gambling tycoon Lui Che-woo, who heads up casino group Galaxy Entertainment. He is now Hong Kong’s 2nd wealthiest tycoon, according to Forbes Hong Kong, behind Li Ka-Shing.
The 84-year old taipan, who also heads up the K.Wah Group, made a huge yearly gain of US$11.5 billion in his net worth, according to Forbes.
Lui is now worth a tidy US$21 billion, up form US$9.5 billion at the end of 2012, when he was Hong Kong’s 5th richest man.
“Casinos in Macau generated nearly 19% more revenue last year than the year before,” said Forbes.
Lui is till playing catch up to Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, who keeps his Big Hitter badge and all round Big Swinging Head honcho hat with a net worth of US$32 billion, up US$2 billion year on year.
Li, 85, has investments in ports, property, utilities, telecoms and resources through Cheung Kong, Hutchison Whampoa and Husky Energy. He has also recently invested in Atlanta-based BitPay, the startup with ambitions to become the PayPal for the virtual currency BitCoin, through his venture capital company, Horizons Ventures. Li Ka-Shing was also an early investor in Facebook, Waze, Skype and Summly.
Behind Lui Che-Woo on the Forbes list sits Henderson Land Development head Lee Shau Kee, 85, whose holds on to US$20 billion.
