"Long distance runner" Lo

Mr Lo did not bet on the mainland on a whim. He began researching the mainland in the 1980s and has been running marathons for more than 20 years. He witnessed the crazy growth of China's real estate industry and met many overnight rich real estate developers, but still adhere to the concept of not making quick money.

Lo was born in April 1948 in Hong Kong. His ancestral home is Puning, Guangdong Province. He graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1969. After returning to Hong Kong in 1969, he first worked for his family eagle King Group company and founded Shui on In 1971. After the 1980s, it actively invested in the mainland and invested heavily in the construction of large projects in Shanghai, such as Shui on Square, Ruihong New Town and Xintiandi. In 1998, he was awarded the Golden Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Business Achievement Award at Hong Kong Business Awards 2001. Director of the Year 2002 - Executive Director of a Listed Company by the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. Since then, he has been awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award 2009 China Award and 2009 China Real Estate Entrepreneur Award. He is now a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), chairman of Hong Kong Shui on Group, honorary chairman of Hong Kong Federation of Industry and Commerce, chairman of Yangtze River Development promotion Association, and a member of the Preparatory Committee of Hong Kong SPECIAL Administrative Region.

In January 1999, over the objections of the board of directors, Mr. Lo embarked on a risky venture to renovate Shanghai's old Lane. "The boss is crazy," said everyone in Shui On Group, and no one knows what the Hong Kong businessman, who has bet half his assets on Shanghai, is thinking.

However, Shanghai's Xintiandi, completed in 2001, shows another possibility for urban renewal: culture, history and commerce can be well combined. Some say, "It is not a pure renouncing of old commercialism or protectionism at the expense of commerce."

Eventually, Xintiandi became a Shanghai landmark along with the Bund and Xujiahui, and made Mr. Lo famous.

While Shui on is a relative newcomer to Hong Kong real estate, property tycoons such as Li Ka-shing and Walter Kwok are said to tap Mr. Lo on the shoulder when they see him, calling him "discerning."

Mr Lo did not bet on the mainland on a whim. He began researching the mainland in the 1980s and has been running marathons for more than 20 years. He witnessed the crazy growth of China's real estate industry and met many overnight rich real estate developers, but still adhere to the concept of not making quick money.

And all this is thanks to the early experience. In his early days, Mr. Lo relied on sleeping pills for four years. "I was nervous and couldn't sleep because I wasn't experienced enough. It was painful, but it was precious, and I knew what it was like to do things." "If you hadn't gone through that, it would be so easy to run a large group or make these judgments today," he told reporters.

A long run business

Born in 1948, Mr Lo is the fourth of nine children of Law Yingshi, a Hong Kong property tycoon. Although he was born rich, but his father bread from childhood strict discipline. Every Sunday, Lo takes all his children and travels the streets of Hong Kong inspecting construction sites.

At the age of 15, the son of a wealthy family was sent to Australia by his father to study. Luo yingshi, his father, even asked him to take a 13-day boat trip to Australia in order to train him to bear hardships. During the six years of studying in Australia, his father never gave him a penny, and he earned all his expenses by working by himself.

After several twists and turns, Lo got a HK $100,000 interest-bearing loan from his father and began his difficult entrepreneurial journey. However, his ambition seems to have no place in this highly commercial city, after all, it is hard to outdo the powerful real estate tycoon. It wasn't until 1984 that Mr. Lo showed he was different. At a time when some Hong Kong businessmen were preparing immigration plans, he decided to head north to explore the mainland market.

This early contact not only gave Mr Lo an interest in the vast mainland market, but also enabled him to build a "network" in the mainland. Starting in 1994, Shui on Construction invested heavily in cement plants in south-west China, while also building its flagship development, Shanghai Xintiandi, through Shui on Real Estate.

At the time, Mr Lo was by no means alone in investing heavily in mainland real estate, but it was unusual for him to put so much of his wealth there. In the long run, he was this decision is undoubtedly very wise, so that now those coveting the mainland market of Hong Kong capital housing enterprises are the dust.

More than any other Hong Kong businessman, Mr Lo has gone beyond the management philosophy of a family business to build a "long-distance company".

Last year, Mr Lo decided to quit as chief executive of Shui on Real Estate and serve only as chairman of the group, feeling he had to change his hands-on habits at the company. As for the grooming of a successor, he told reporters that although he wants his children to follow in their footsteps, he will respect their choice. "It would be unfair to the company and to them if they were forced to do it."

"Personal color is quite thick", this is the consistent evaluation of luo Kangrui's Ryan department. Most of all, however, he hopes the company will be able to grow more smoothly without the personal touch. "Changes are bound to happen, but I now hope that one day when I'm not in charge, the company does better than when I was in charge, and I'm very happy."

Fan Bohong, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, studied 217 family succession cases in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan between 1987 and 2005. He found that companies' share prices fell by an average of 56 per cent in the five years before and one year after a generational change in ownership and control.

Perhaps it is because he has come from a wealthy businessman's family and knows the pitfalls of a family business that Mr Lo is so comfortable with the question of succession. The recent tussle between sun Hung Kai's Kwok brothers over the family fortune is also a reminder of the potential perils of family business.

It is impossible not to touch Mr. Lo's heart.

To this day, Mr. Lo still works more than 10 hours a day. He seems to enjoy his work. "My goal is to be able to do projects like Xintiandi. It's very satisfying to be able to do these projects."

With Vanke, Evergrande and other mainland leading real estate companies quick turnaround, cash is king strategy, over the years, Mr Lo has always upheld the concept of no quick money. He has an inner desire to work on products like Xintiandi because "the value of these projects is irreplaceable in the long run."

Lack of explosive power

By heart, he is not a flamboyant entrepreneur.

It is also due to this peaceful and cautious personality, so that he never tried to make a quick buck. But on the other hand, it also makes the enterprise he leads seem to lack some Wolf and explosive power.

Since 1996, Shui on Real Estate began to develop large-plot commercial real estate with a long return cycle. Although the land price is low and the long-term cultivation has brought the company more than expected returns, the challenges it faces cannot be ignored: large initial investment, slow turnover and slow return of capital.

In the opinion of some investors, The development speed of Shui On is too slow, the development cycle is too long, and too many real estate properties are deposited on each project, which means that most of the profits are stored there.

Some analysts point out that Shui On Real Estate plans to increase the gross floor area by more than 1 million square meters per year in 2012. At present, the pressure is still very large.

So far, Xintiandi has been replicated and developed in many cities across China, including Wuhan, Chongqing and Foshan. However, with the increasingly fierce competition of commercial real estate, many developers began to coveted the mother cake of urban redevelopment projects. Despite Shui On's success story, local governments may face more temptations when choosing developers. So the days of cheap land are gone.

On the other hand, the dramatic increase in demolition costs cannot be ignored. For ruian department, which is obsessed with the reconstruction of old cities and the project of unfinished buildings, this makes its prospects a little misty. According to Luo Kangrui introduction, when preparing to build Shanghai xintiandi, 43 days moved 3800! Today, it is astonishing. But Mr Lo also admitted: "... Very difficult. Many nail houses are now indentured." At the same time, he vaguely revealed that the future will consider doing some small projects, speed up the return of funds.

When Shanghai Xintiandi becomes a classic, it seems that the next xintiandi will be insurmountable wherever it is, which is also the great challenge facing the successors.

The Pink Merchants

Hong Kong's business community dubbed Mr Lo the "pink businessman", praising his handling of relations with the government.

As such, he seems to have become busier since stepping down as chief executive of the company, frequenting high-end forums and conferences on the mainland as a panelist, guest host, or sitting quietly and listening to the discussion on stage. Of course, another implication of attending the forum is that he can often meet and communicate with mainland officials, which may also be one of the important factors influencing his judgment.

"Now the international situation is too complicated, I still have to lead the board of directors to grasp the strategy. I would like to hear from other industry experts to help me see the situation clearly and make this judgment." Mr. Lo said.

In November 2002, Lo was elected vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. In 2003, he was listed seventh on hurun's list of China's top 50 Real estate influencers.

Mr Law claims to have "studied politics" since the 1980s and was a member of Hong Kong's Basic Law Advisory Committee from 1985 to 1990, five years that influenced his business activities.

Although he does not consider himself a "king of guanxi", his political experience has undoubtedly been a valuable asset. "I have a better understanding of how policies and decisions are made in the mainland, so it is very easy for me to deal with these officials and cadres, and I fully understand how they see things and how they do things." He said.

When asked about the secret of dealing with the government, he laughs that the best trick is to do these projects to really design and promote the city, not from his own developer's point of view. To this end, Ryanair has always had a slogan: "Cooperate with the government to promote prosperity, social progress and development." He believes the government and developers can achieve a win-win situation. "Economic growth is linked to housing prices, and if the local economy grows well, we will definitely benefit. We are doing these projects to support this place to grow its economy."