Khoo Kay Peng

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Khoo (邱).
Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri
Khoo Kay Peng
邱繼炳
BornDecember 1939 (age 84)
Batu Pahat, Johor, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
OccupationBusinessman
TitleChairman, Laura Ashley plc
SpousePauline Chai (1970–2013; divorced)
Children5
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese邱繼炳
Simplified Chinese邱继炳
Hanyu PinyinQiū Jìbǐng
Hokkien POJKhu Kè-péng

Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng (Chinese: 邱繼炳; born December 1939) is a Malaysian Chinese businessman. He is the chairman and a major shareholder of Laura Ashley plc, and the owner of MUI Group.

Early life[edit]

Khoo Kay Peng was born in December 1939 in Batu Pahat, Johor.[1]

Career[edit]

Khoo was mentored by Khoo Teck Puat, who founded Malayan Banking (now Maybank) in 1960. Khoo joined the new bank and soon became a manager. In 1965, he was seconded to Bank Bumiputra, and quickly rose to a senior position. In his ten years there, he built relationships with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Robert Kuok and Tan Koon Swan.[2]

He left in 1976 to start his own business, developing property in Kuala Lumpur with a loan from Southern Banking, which made him a millionaire. In the same year, he bought a major stake in MUI Group, then a manufacturer of toothbrushes and household utensils, and used it as a vehicle for a series of corporate takeovers, growing MUI to a $91 million pre-tax profit in 1984.[2]

Khoo operated for some time from 1980 from Australia, initially in Perth and later in Melbourne, but moved to the UK in the 1990s.[3]

He is the owner of MUI Group, a conglomerate which includes "retail, hotel, food and financial-services interests in Asia, Australia, the U.S. and the U.K." according to Forbes.[4] He also owned 44% of Laura Ashley plc and serves as its chairman.[4][5] He is a director of Corus Hotels.[6]

He is the 44th richest person in Malaysia, with an estimated wealth of US$300 million according to Forbes.[4] However, the Financial Times suggested he was worth an estimated £400 million in February 2014.[5]

In December 2018, Khoo retired from his role as the executive chairman at MUI, and was succeeded by his son, Andrew.[7][8]

Personal life[edit]

Khoo is a born-again Christian.[1] He married former model and beauty queen, Pauline Chai Siew Phin, who hails from Ipoh, Perak in December 1970 when Chai was 24 and he was 31, shortly after she won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant. They have five children[9]—Alfred, Andrew, Angelina, Angeline and Alex.[10] None of his five children holds Malaysian citizenship or worked in Malaysia as all of them holds other countries' citizenship and resides in different locations in Singapore, Canada, England and Argentina.[11] His eldest children, Alfred born with Tourette's syndrome while his two other children, Angelina and Alex are on autistic spectrum and Asperger's disease respectively.[10][9]

He and his wife began divorce proceedings in 2013 after 43 years of marriage, with Chai citing the reason for the divorcement was due to Khoo's unreasonable behaviour.[4][5] Chai, represented by Ayesha Vardag, issued a petition for divorce in London. However, the petition was disputed and for two years the couple fought over jurisdiction. Mr Justice Bodey of the English High Court ultimately ruled in Chai's favour. In April 2017, Chai was awarded £64 million in divorce settlements, one of the largest recorded.[12]

He resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,[4] while his former wife resides at Rossway, an estate in Hertfordshire, England.[6] Their ongoing divorce has led to the revelation of personal details.[13] Chai, who left Malaysia in 1980 to live in Australia, later in Canada before moved to England, renounced her Malaysian citizenship in 2009, claiming that she has "only one friend in Malaysia" and has "no interest" in her home country.[14] Khoo later said that his marriage with Chai was a big mistake to him. He said: "Her (Chai's) behaviour and demeanour had changed. Now, I know who the real person (Chai) is, after 43 years of marriage".[15]

Khoo's daughter, Angeline married Jedidiah Francis, a Caribbean-born data scientist of Indian descent. Due to cultural differences, he refused to give his blessings to them to get married, resulting Khoo and his daughter ended their relationship and no longer talking to each other.[16] Khoo insisted that he would not accept Francis as his son-in-law.[9][16]

Honours[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Khoo: Success by God's grace". New Straits Times. 21 November 1985. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b Peter Searle (1999). The Riddle of Malaysian Capitalism: Rent-Seekers Or Real Capitalists?. Asian Studies Association of Australia. pp. 197–. ISBN 978-0-8248-2053-4.
  3. ^ "Millionaire Laura Ashley boss spent "hours" on toilet doing business". The Daily Telegraph. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Khoo Kay Peng". Forbes. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Jane Croft, 'Divorce Lawyers on alert for end to era of big payouts for life', Financial Times, 28 February/1 March 2015, p. 2
  6. ^ a b Tom Harper, Judge’s anger adds to acrimony of £500m divorce acrimony of Laura Ashley boss Khoo Kay Peng, The Independent, 09 May 2014
  7. ^ "MUI executive chairman Khoo Kay Peng retires". The Star Online. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  8. ^ "Andrew succeeds his father Khoo Kay Peng, the founder of MUI Group". NST Business. New Straits Times. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Su-Lyn, Boo (3 November 2014). "Daughter backs mum in divorce from tycoon, says dad disapproves of son-in-law's race". Malay Mail. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  10. ^ a b hermes (6 August 2017). "Laura Ashley heiress gave up money for love: Poor little rich girl finds her stride". Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  11. ^ https://www.mstar.com.my/lokal/semasa/2014/11/08/kes-cerai-miss-malaysia
  12. ^ https://vardags.com/law-guide/important-divorce-cases/chai-v-peng
  13. ^ Press Association, Millionaire Laura Ashley boss spent "hours" on toilet doing business, The Daily Telegraph, 2 October 2014
  14. ^ https://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/i-have-no-interest-malaysia-former-miss-malaysia-tells-high-court-47861
  15. ^ https://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=92994
  16. ^ a b I gave up inheritance to marry for love, says Khoo Kay Peng's daughter The Star Online (12 August 2017). Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  17. ^ "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat". www.istiadat.gov.my.
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