Channel NewsAsia - Wednesday, February 3
SINGAPORE: Singapore billionaire property tycoon and Far East Organization chairman Ng Teng Fong, 82, died on Tuesday morning.
Far East Organization said in a statement that Mr Ng suffered brain haemorrhage on January 23. He was taken to hospital where he underwent an operation.
Mr Ng was ranked Singapore’s richest man by Forbes magazine last year. His family’s net worth was estimated at US$8 billion in 2009.
He was said to have made his fortune on the property market, and owned at least a quarter of Singapore’s private housing market.
Mr Ng set up Far East Organization in 1960 and by the 1980s, he was known as the "King of Orchard Road".
The company had its beginnings in residential developments. Watten Estate, in the prime Bukit Timah residential area where Mr Ng lived, was one of its earliest projects.
Over the years, the property giant developed over 700 malls, condominiums and hotels in Singapore and Hong Kong, including Singapore’s Fullerton Hotel.
The family also owns Hong Kong’s Sino Group and is also one of Hong Kong’s largest real estate developers.
Mr Ng was born in 1928 in Putien in China’s Fujian province, and came to Singapore when he was six.
Mr Ng was known for his frugal lifestyle, and till his death, still lived in his Watten Estate home of 30 years.
Mr Ng leaves behind his wife and eight children. His younger son Philip runs the Singapore business, while older son Robert is in charge of the Hong Kong one.
In a statement, the Ng family expressed its gratitude to friends and business associates for their condolences and concern.
Industry veterans said Mr Ng’s death is an immense loss. Mr Kwek Leng Beng, executive chairman of Hong Leong Group, said Mr Ng had an innate talent in the field.
Mr Kwek said: "Mr Ng was a doyen of the property sector. He was a proven authority, with a deep understanding of real estate and an innate talent of looking at the property market in a different way.
"Not only did he build Far East Organization from a small company to a property giant, he was also instrumental in building Sinoland in Hong Kong to a great success that it is now a distinctive and proud achievement by a Singaporean.
"I knew Mr Ng for a long time and had the privilege of working closely with him especially when we were active in REDAS in the 1980s. I valued his views and benefited from his insights.
"He was a man who worked extremely hard, day and night. We used to study the property market together at his office while we were dealing with property matters. More often than not, we would find that we were still deep in discussion long after the official REDAS meetings were over and everyone else had left. His passing is indeed an immense loss for the industry and for Singapore."
CapitaLand’s president and CEO Liew Mun Leong called Mr Ng an exceptional entrepreneur and a pioneer of the real estate industry. "We speak with high regard of how he has successfully steered his business through several major crises over the decades and built an impressive business empire.
"He has been equally successful in his foray into Hong Kong, a very mature and competitive market, decades ahead of others in Singapore. Such initiatives place Mr Ng Teng Fong as an exceptional property veteran whose entrepreneurship far exceeds many of us in Singapore. Even the largest property companies in Hong Kong take their hats off to his company in Hong Kong where it enjoys a high standing. Singapore has lost a truly inspirational entrepreneur."
Mr Ng’s wake will be held from Tuesday evening at his mansion at No.2, Watten Estate, and a nightly service will be held at 8pm. The funeral will be held on Saturday.
— CNA/sc/ir
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