‘Sugar King’ eyes investment in RP

HONG KONG (via PLDT) — Sugar king Robert Kuok, who ranked 114th in Forbes magazine’s list of the World’s Richest People this year, is looking for a 30,000-hectare property in the Philippines where he can develop his own plantation and possibly set up other business ventures.

Kuok personally informed President Arroyo of his plans during a business luncheon that was also attended by other businessmen.

She also met with Cathay Pacific Airways chief executive officer Philip Chen, who also disclosed his company’s interest in buying products from the Philippines.

Kuok heads the multinational Kuok Group with interests ranging from shipping to real estate to media. His Malaysia International Shipping Corp. is the leading dry bulk shipper in the Pacific basin. His Transmile Group, an airfreight service firm, has landing rights in China and India.

In Hong Kong, he owns modern warehouse and cargo distribution centers. His group also operates edible oils manufacturing facilities and 10 Coca-Cola bottling plants in China. The group also owns and manages extensive sugar and oil palm plantations, mills and refineries in Malaysia and Indonesia, and has 38 hotels throughout Asia Pacific including the luxurious Shangri-La.

"I had a visit from Mr. Kuok who is probably the biggest Hong Kong investor. In the Philippines today, he owns four Shangri-La hotels and a thousand hectares of land in Cavite," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"He has very, very productive and competitive sugar facilities all over Southeast Asia . If he has 30,000 hectares in the Philippines then we can really have a more than competitive industry. We will look for the 30,000 hectares for him. The possibility of land management contract is there," she said.

"As far as the Philippines is concerned it is the sugar we are really looking at so much can be done. We’d like to do that with his own investment," she said.

Cathay Pacific, on the other hand, wants to source from the Philippines some of the products it needs for its HK$400-million catering service, according to Mrs. Arroyo.