Lim Por-yen

Lim Por-yen (Chinese: 林百欣; pinyin: Lín Bǎixīn; c. 1914 – 18 February 2005) was a Hong Kong industrialist. He founded the Lai Sun Group, and his family was the biggest shareholder of Asia Television.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Lim.
Lim Por-yen
林百欣
Born(1914-12-21)21 December 1914
Chaoyang, Guangdong, China
Died18 February 2005(2005-02-18) (aged 90)
Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong
Known forFounding Lai Sun Group
Chairman of Asia Television
Spouses
  • Lai Yuen-fong
  • U Po-chu
  • Gu Shui-ying
  • Choy Yim-yu (divorced)
Children8, including Peter Lam and Pearl Lam
Parent林献之 (father)

Biography

Lim Por-yen was born in Chaoyang, Guangdong, and moved to Hong Kong with his father in 1931.[nb 1]

In 1945, he started a factory manufacturing garments in Sham Shui Po for export. Lim earned himself the nickname of "African King" in the 1950s when he exported cheap military uniforms to African countries.[1] His company, Lai Sun Garment, was founded in 1947, and later listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

He successfully diversified into real estate in 1987 when he set up another vehicle, Lai Sun Development.[2] In the same year, Lai Sun acquired the Crocodile Garments business.[nb 2]

Public service and philanthropy

Deeply attached to his hometown and China, he started a massive program of donations in the 1980s. He founded four secondary schools in Shantou. In 1994, he founded a technical college there with a donation of ¥35 million, and endowed Shantou City Education Foundation with a further ¥10 million.[nb 3] He is said to have made in excess of ¥700 million in donations to causes throughout China, of which Shantou's share was more than half.[nb 4] He has been a supporter of education in Hong Kong by setting up several schools.

He also donated to the University of Hong Kong's SARS Fund and helped to establish the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole. His support of the HKU Foundation and to the university in general over the years earned him an honorary fellowship in 2003.[3] Lim also endowed an Eye Genetics Research Center (named after him) at the CUHK in 2004.[4]

Lim was a Hong Kong Affairs Adviser to Beijing. He also served on the Preparatory Committee and Selection Committee of the SAR. He was a founding member of the Better Hong Kong Foundation.[5]

Corruption conviction

Lim was implicated in the largest bribery scandal in Taiwan at the time.[5] Lim was arrested by Taiwan's Bureau of Investigation on accusations that he offered NT$200 million in bribes to several officials of the Taipei County Land Administration Bureau, including its former director.[1]

Lim owned some land originally slated for farming and industrial use. After Lim bought it, officials allocated the land for the new National Taipei University, allowing him to sell the land back to Taipei County for more than NT$890 million (US$28.6 million), an estimated NT$300 million above market value. He is alleged to have bribed officials to rezone the land.

In 1999, he was found guilty on charges of bribery and money laundering through the land deals, but his prison sentence of 38 months was reduced by one year. His appeal of this conviction was still under consideration at the time of his death.

Personal

Lim was married four times and had seven biological children and an adopted son from his older brother.[nb 5] At his death he remained legally married to his first wife, Lai Yuen-Fong (賴元芳) .

His second wife, U Po-chu (余寶珠), is a 50-year veteran of the garment industry and is a non-executive director of Lai Sun Garment.[1] His third wife is Gu Shui-Ying (顧瑞英) and his fourth wife is Choy Yim-yu (蔡艷如).

Lim's eldest son, Lam Kin-ming (林建名), works for Lai Sun's Crocodile Garments.[nb 6] His second son, by his second wife, U Po-chu, is Peter Lam, head of Media Asia Group and the Lai Sun Group. Their relations were under considerable strain when Peter acquired Furama Hotel Enterprises without consulting him.[1] Lim Por-yen also had a daughter, Pearl Lam, from whom he was estranged, reportedly due to debts incurred from a property investment.[nb 7] She runs an art gallery and reports that her parents disapproved of her art career, forcing her to study accounting and financial management, and later law.[6] He has a son, Lam Kin-hong (林建康), who is responsible for mainland property investments in Hong Kong-listed Lai Fung Holdings.[nb 6]

On 10 December 2004, he gifted his 33.73% stake in Lai Sun International equally to Peter and his mother.[nb 8]

Death

Lim died on 18 February 2005 at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, from a lung infection; he was in his 90s.[2]

Notes

For verification purposes, the following are relevant citations in Chinese from the CCTV article dated 17 October 2005[7]

  1. "1914年生於潮陽的林百欣，1931年隨父移居香港，1939年開始在九龍城創業。"
  2. "1987年，麗新收購成立於1952年"鱷魚恤"，又追加近10億港元投資，繼而拓展日本市場。"
  3. "從上世紀80年代開始，林百欣就相繼在汕頭市捐建四所林百欣中學。1994年又捐款3500萬元建了汕頭林百欣科技中專，還在同年捐資1000萬元人民幣給了汕頭市教育基金會。"
  4. "據不完全統計，林百欣在北京、上海、廣州、汕頭和中山等地捐辦各種公益事業，總金額達人民幣7億元以上，僅在家鄉汕頭就有3.8億元。"
  5. "林百欣一生有四位妻子，共有七名子女，並收養一名養子"
  6. "林建名將繼續協助林建岳打理鱷魚恤業務。養子林建康則負責內地地產業務的麗豐控股(1125.HK)。"
  7. "曾被林百欣視為掌上明珠的愛女林明珠，因一樁房地產投資引發的債務問題與林百欣對簿公堂。"
  8. "去年12月14日，林百欣將其持有的麗新係控股公司麗新國際(0191.HK)全部共33.73%股權，以饋贈形式贈予妻子余寶珠及次子林建岳(余寶珠為林建岳生母)，每人一半。"

References
  1. Dennis Eng, A little less debt for ailing Lai Sun Archived 2 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 18 November 2002
  2. Raymond Wang and Teddy Ng, Lai Sun Group founder Lim dies Archived 22 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Standard, 19 February 2005
  3. Prof. S K Lam, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (16 December 2003) Honorary University Fellows: Lim Por-yen University of Hong Kong
  4. Xinhua (27 March 2004) Genetic test helps diagnose eye diseases: HK expert, People's Daily
  5. HK tycoon Lim Por-yen passes away, China Daily (20 February 2005)
  6. Pearl Lam – HK Magazine bio Archived 26 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine, By Leanne Mirandilla, 17 May 2012
  7. 13元錢起家的一代富豪:林百欣生前身後事 "The Lim Por-yen story" Archived 19 January 2013 at archive.today, CCTV, 17 October 2005 (in Chinese)
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