[PEN-L:29507] Hong Kong’s super rich still have a ball

["Ulhas Joglekar" <joglekarulhas@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Economic Times

Saturday, August 10, 2002

Forget slump, Hong Kong’s super rich still have a ball

REUTERS

HONG KONG: Abbie Chan drives a Porsche and says she owns about half a dozen
luxury apartments in Hong Kong.

A regular on the high-society circuit, the businesswoman attends 3-4 balls a
month, spending around HK$10,000 ($1,300) on new clothes and accessories
each time.

Trim and fashionable, she is one of Hong Kong’s ultra rich, boasting a
lifestyle the overwhelming majority of residents can only read about in the
society pages of newspapers. While most people fret about unemployment and
how to make ends meet as the city struggles to shake off its second
recession in five years, such woes are remote to the super-rich.

Chan says she made $25m selling insurance when she was 23 before going on to
make more by distributing health products in the last eight years. While the
halving of Hong Kong real estate prices since ‘97 has hit the value of her
properties, Ms Chan continues her skiing trips and shopping sprees in
Europe. Asked how she felt about the hardship most people in the territory
face, Chan said, “I’m lucky and I treasure what I have.”

Showing off a wine cellar in her sprawling duplex flat, the 30-something
says her career success and wealth have very little to do with her
privileged background. The wine cellar cost HK$500,000 to build and the wine
is worth up to HK$2m, she said. Her architect father owns a string of
properties in Hong Kong and went into retirement in his 40s.

Ms Chan and her older sister clinched exclusive rights to distribute the
Maruha brand of shark liver pills outside Japan in ‘94 and the business has
since grown. Popular belief credits shark liver pills with being a sovereign
remedy for illness ranging from arthritis to diabetes.

Apart from Hong Kong, the sisters also distribute the products in
Switzerland, Singapore and Australia. “When you are rich, you will be
beautiful. Money can buy beauty,” says the golfer, who swims and undergoes
regular slimming treatments and beauty care.

While the less fortunate tighten their belts, the slump has meant little to
Ms Chan and her ilk. Sales of foreign branded items have remained strong and
luxury car dealers recently said their top-end customers are still bringing
in the much-needed revenues.

There are the exceptions, however. The downturn has claimed many casualties
in Hong Kong, and amongst them are a few well-known names. Veteran Cantopop
singer Kenny Bee, once the heart-throb of thousands of teenage girls, filed
for bankruptcy in July.

Mr Bee and his former wife Teresa Cheung borrowed heavily to invest in Hong
Kong’s real estate in the ‘90s, but found themselves stuck with huge debts
when the property market crashed in ‘97. Newspapers put the sum at HK$250m.
The number of personal bankruptcies hit a record 10,173 in the first half of
‘02, almost triple those in the same period last year and surpassing the
total for all of ‘01.

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