Retail tycoon Khoo Kay Peng may lose RM2.4b in divorce By Boo Su-Lyn
KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — Retail and hotel tycoon Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng, who owns 40 per cent of international brand Laura Ashley, stands to lose half his fortune amounting to £500million (RM2.4 billion) in a pending divorce.
British tabloid Daily Mail reported yesterday that Miss Malaysia/International 1969 Pauline Chai filed a divorce petition in London last month on grounds of "unreasonable behaviour" against Malaysia's 40th wealthiest man, according to the Forbes 2012 list of Malaysia's richest.
"English law works on the basis of a 50-50 split of assets unless there is a reason to depart from that principle,' Chai's lawyer Ayesha Vardag was quoted telling the UK Times newspaper, according to the Daily Mail.
"We have wealth here that was built up over 40 years and a wife's entitlement would be half of that. Any question of need is secondary," the lawyer reportedly said.
Khoo is the chairman of international investment holding company Malayan United Industries Bhd that is primarily engaged in retailing, hotels, food and confectionery, financial services and properties and is believed to have a net worth of US$155 million (RM484 million).
Besides having a 40 per cent stake in Laura Ashley that has annual sales of £286 million (RM1.4 billion), the 74-year-old multimillionaire is also a director of Corus Hotels Limited in the UK. Corus Hotel Hyde Park in London is a four-star Victorian hotel.
Lawyers reportedly said that Chai, 66, could be awarded between £400million (RM1.9 billion) and £500million (RM2.4 billion), according to Daily Mail.
Vardag also reportedly said that Chai was entitled to seek justice in the UK as the former beauty queen was residing in England. Preliminary divorce hearings are expected to proceed in the coming months.
Chai lives in the couple's former family home on a 1,000-acre estate in Hertfordshire that is located north of Greater London.
Chai and Khoo, who married in 1970 and have five grown-up children, bought the estate in 1998 that reportedly has two custom-built lakes costing £60,000 (RM282, 869) each and a menagerie.
Besides winning the Miss Malaysia/International 1969 title, Chai has won other beauty pageants, including Miss Princess Malaysia 1969 and Miss Tourism Penang 1969.
Another big-money divorce case that is shining a light on the wealth of Malaysia's rich is the RM400 million divorce case of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud's son, Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Abdul Taib.
The Syariah Appeal Court ordered the case to be retried last week.
Mahmud Abu Bekir's ex-wife Shahnaz Abdul Majid testified last October that Mahmud Abu Bekir was worth more than RM1 billion, when justifying her claims for RM400 million in their divorce settlement.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mala ... n-divorce/