Like many family-owned conglomerates, the Kuok Group of companies run the risk of intra-family strife. Robert Kuok’s situation was a little unusual, in that the initial holding company was jointly-owned by multiple relatives. The advantage Kuok had was that his mother — who was a calming, wise influence all his life — served as a neutral arbiter in her position as the matriarch of the family. But disputes could become very complicated (and very painful) very quickly.
In the 1970s, the Kuok Group came the closest to a permanent fracture. In his memoirs, Kuok writes:
My late fifth cousin, Kuok Hock Chin, who had worked with Father at Tong Seng, became a 25 percent shareholder of Kuok Brothers Ltd when we formed the company in 1949. This stake was equal to mine. Hock Chin was the eldest son of my second uncle, who was in many ways the brother m ...
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