Tan Sri The Malay language has a complex system of styles, titles and honorifics which are used extensively in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the southern Philippines. Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and several provinces in Indonesia regul ...

Khoo Kay Peng (; born December 1939) is a

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese (; Malay: ''Orang Cina Malaysia''), alternatively Chinese Malaysians, are Malaysian citizens of Han Chinese descent. They form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority constituting 22.4% of the Malaysian po ...

businessman. He is the chairman and a major shareholder of

Laura Ashley plc Laura Ashley plc () was a British textile design company now controlled by the MUI Group of Malaysia. It was founded by Bernard Ashley, an engineer, and his wife Laura Ashley in 1953 then grew over the next 20 years to become an international ...

, and the owner of

MUI Group Malayan United Industries Berhad (MUI; ) was founded in 1960, and owned by Khoo Kay Peng. The main businesses of the group includes retailing, hotels, food and confectionery, financial services, property, travel and tourism. The group has business ...

Early life

Khoo Kay Peng was born in December 1939.

Career

Khoo was mentored by

Khoo Teck Puat Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat (; 13 January 1917 – 21 February 2004) was a banker and hotel owner, who, with an estimated fortune of S$4.3 billion (US$3,195,953,500), was the wealthiest man in Singapore at one point. He owned the Goodwood Gr ...

, who founded Malayan Banking 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 Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh bin Tengku Mohd Hamzah ( Jawi: تڠکو غزالي بن تڠکو محمد حمزة; born 13 April 1937) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gua Musang from August 1986 to November ...

Robert Kuok Robert Kuok Hock Nien (; Hokchew: ''Guoh24 Houk5 Nieng55''; born 6 October 1923), is a Malaysian business magnate and investor. Since 1973, Kuok has lived in Hong Kong. According to ''Forbes'', his net worth is estimated at $12.6 billion as of ...

and

Tan Koon Swan Tan Sri Dr. Tan Koon Swan (; born 24 September 1940) is a Malaysian political and corporate figure. He was the fifth president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition; from November 1 ...

. 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 1976, he bought a major stake in

, 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. Khoo operated for some time from 1980 from Australia, initially in Perth and later in Melbourne, but moved to the UK in the 1990s. He is the owner of

, a conglomerate which includes "retail, hotel, food and financial-services interests in Asia, Australia, the U.S. and the U.K." according to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

''. He also owned 44% of

and serves as its chairman.Jane Croft, 'Divorce Lawyers on alert for end to era of big payouts for life', ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', 28 February/1 March 2015, p. 2 He is a director of

Corus Hotels Corus Hotels is a group of 8 hotels based in the UK, with 2 hotels in Malaysia. The hotels are owned by London Vista Hotel Limited, which is part of Malayan United Industries. The brand name was launched in 1998 by the Regal Hotel Group, in ord ...

.Tom Harper
Judge’s anger adds to acrimony of £500m divorce acrimony of Laura Ashley boss Khoo Kay Peng
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 09 May 2014 He is the 44th richest person in Malaysia, with an estimated wealth of US$300 million according to ''Forbes''. However, the ''

'' suggested he was worth an estimated £400 million in February 2014.

Personal life

Khoo married Pauline Chai in 1970 when Chai was 24 and he was 31, shortly after she won the Miss Malaysia beauty contest. Chai first became pregnant in 1971, and they have five children—Alfred, Andrew, Angelina, Angeline and Alex. He and his wife divorced in 2013 after 43 years together. He resides in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, Malaysia. His wife resides at

Rossway Rossway Park Estate is a country estate located about 0.5 kilometers south of Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, England. The house at the centre of the estate is a Grade II listed building. History The Rossway Park estate, which dates from the 17th ...

, an estate in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England. Their ongoing divorce has led to the revelation of personal details. Khoo's daughter, Angeline married Jedidiah Francis, a Caribbean-born

data scientist Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a bro ...

of Indian descent, and he refused to give them blessings to get married, resulting Khoo and his daughter no longer talking to each other.I gave up inheritance to marry for love, says Khoo Kay Peng's daughter
''

The Star Online ''The Star'' () is an English-language newspaper in Malaysia. Based in Petaling Jaya, it was established in 1971 as a regional newspaper in Penang. It is the largest paid English newspaper in terms of circulation in Malaysia, according to the A ...

'' (12 August 2017). Retrieved 19 November 2017. Khoo insisted that he would not accept Francis as his son-in-law.

Honours

* : **

Commander of the

Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia The Most Esteemed Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia ( ms, Darjah Yang Mulia Setia Mahkota Malaysia) is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country and awarded by the sovereign. The order was instituted on ...

(P.S.M.) - Tan Sri (1986)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peng, Khoo Kay 1939 births Living people People from Kuala Lumpur Malaysian businesspeople Commanders of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia