"Long-distance Runner" Lo Kang-sui

Lo's investment in the mainland is not a whim. He has been visiting the mainland since the 1980s and running marathons for more than two decades. He has witnessed the crazy growth of China's real estate industry and has met many property developers who have become rich overnight but still adhere to the concept of not making a quick buck.

Lo was born in Hong Kong in April 1948. His ancestral home is Puning, Guangdong Province. He graduated from the University of New South Wales in Australia in 1969. After returning to Hong Kong in 1969, he first worked for his family's Eagle King Group Company and founded Shui On Company in 1971. Since the 1980s, it has actively invested in the mainland and invested heavily in the construction of Ruian Plaza, Ruihong New City, Xintiandi, and other large-scale projects in Shanghai. In 1998, he was awarded the Golden Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. In 2001, he received the Business Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Business Awards. In 2002, he was awarded "Director of the Year 2002 - Executive Director of a Listed Company" by the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. Since then, he has won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award "the 2009 China Award" and "the 2009 China Real Estate Entrepreneur Award". He is currently a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), CHAIRMAN of Shui On Group, HONORARY President of the Hong Kong Federation of Industry and Commerce, Chairman of the Yangtze River Development and Promotion Council, and once served as a member of the Preparatory Committee of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In January 1999, over the objections of the board of directors, Mr. Lo embarked on a risky investment to renovate Shanghai's old alley. "The boss is crazy," says everyone in Shui On Group. No one knows what the Hong Kong businessman, who has bet half his assets in Shanghai, is thinking.

However, Shanghai Xintiandi, completed in 2001, shows another possibility: that culture, history, and commerce can be well combined. "It is not purely commercialism that destroys the old and builds the new, nor is it protectionism that simply sacrifices business," some say.

In the end, Xintiandi became a Shanghai landmark as famous as the Bund and Xujiahui, which also made Lo famous.

Although Shui On Group is a relative newcomer in Hong Kong property circles, property tycoons such as Li Ka-Shing and Walter Kwok are said to tap Lo on the shoulder and call him "visionary."

Lo's investment in the mainland is not a whim. He has been visiting the mainland since the 1980s and running marathons for more than two decades. He has witnessed the crazy growth of China's real estate industry and has met many property developers who have become rich overnight but still insist on not making a quick buck.

And all this is thanks to my early experience. In the early days of his business, Mr. Lo relied on sleeping pills for four years. "Because I am not experienced enough, I am very nervous and cannot sleep. It's painful, but it's really valuable. I know what it's like to do something." "If I hadn't gone through that, how would it be so easy to run a big group or make these judgments today?" he told reporters.

A long-run business

Born in 1948, Lo is the fourth of nine children of Hong Kong property tycoon Lo Wing-shek. Although he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, his father kept a tight rein on him from childhood. Every Sunday, Luo Yingshi takes all the children in his family to the streets of Hong Kong to inspect construction sites.

At the age of 15, Lo, the son of a wealthy family, was sent by his father to study in Australia. His father, Luo Yingshi, even asked him to take a 13-day boat trip to Australia to train his spirit of hardship. During their six years of studying in Australia, his father did not give him any money, and he earned all his expenses by working by himself.

After returning to China, Lo received an interest loan of HK $100,000 from his father and began his difficult business journey. His ambitions, however, seem to have fallen flat in this hyper-commercial city, where it is hard to outdo the powerful property giants. It wasn't until 1984 that Lo showed he was different. While some Hong Kong businessmen were preparing their emigration plans, he decided to travel north to explore the mainland market.

This early contact not only gave Lo an interest in the vast mainland market but also allowed him to start weaving a "network of relationships" on the mainland. Starting in 1994, Shui On Construction invested heavily in cement plants in southwestern China and, through Shui On Real Estate, built its flagship development, Shanghai Xintiandi.

Mr. Lo was by no means alone in investing heavily in mainland property at the time, but it was unusual for him to put so much of his wealth there. In the long run, his decision is undoubtedly very wise, let those who covet the mainland market now Hong Kong property enterprises are in the dust.

Compared with other Hong Kong businessmen, Lo broke away from the family business management philosophy, he wants to build a "long-distance running business".

Last year, Mr. Lo felt he had to change his hands-on corporate habits and decided to step down as chief executive of Shui On Real Estate to become chairman of the group only. Regarding the grooming of a successor, he told reporters that he would like his son to follow in his father's footsteps, but he will respect his children's choice. "It's not fair to the company or them if it's forced."

"Personal color is quite strong", this is the consensus of the industry on Lo's Ryan department. What he wants most, however, is for the company to grow more smoothly after losing its identity. "Changes and adjustments are bound to happen, but I am now looking forward to the day when I am not in charge and the company is doing better than it was when I was. I am very happy."

Fan Bo-hong, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, studied 217 cases of family succession in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan between 1987 and 2005. He found that companies' share prices fell by an average of 56 percent in the five years before and one year after a generational change in ownership and control.

Perhaps it is because he comes from a wealthy business family and is already aware of the drawbacks of the family business that Lo is so comfortable with the question of his successor. And the recent acrimony between the Kwok brothers of Sun Hung Kai over the family fortune is a reminder of the potential risks of the family business.

None of this is possible without touching Lo's heart.

Today, Lo still works more than 10 hours a day. He seems to enjoy his work. "My goal is to be able to do projects like Xintiandi. I find it very satisfying to be able to do these projects."

Unlike China Vanke, Evergrande, and other leading real estate companies strategy of quick turnover and cash as king, Lo has been adhering to the concept of not making quick money for many years. In his heart, he longs to make products like Xintiandi because "in the long run, the value of these projects is irreplaceable."

Lack of explosive power

By heart, he is not a flamboyant entrepreneur.

It is also because of this calm and cautious personality, let he never tries to make a quick buck. But on the other hand, it also makes the enterprise he leads seem to lack some Wolf and explosive power.

Since 1996, Shui On Real Estate has started to develop large-plot commercial real estate with a long return cycle. Although the land price is low and the long-term cultivation has brought the company more than expected returns, the challenges it faces cannot be ignored: the early investment is large, the turnover is relatively slow, and the capital return speed is slow.

In the opinion of some investors, the development speed of Ryanair is too slow, the development cycle is too long, and every development project deposits too much real estate on it, which is equivalent to storing most of the profits there.