Khoo Kay Peng

Khoo Kay Peng was born in December 1939 in Batu Pahat, Johor.[1]

Khoo was mentored by Khoo Teck Puat, who founded Malayan Banking (now Maybank) 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, Robert Kuok and Tan Koon Swan.[2]

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 the same year, he bought a major stake in MUI Group, 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.[2]

Khoo operated for some time from 1980 from Australia, initially in Perth and later in Melbourne, but moved to the UK in the 1990s.[3]

He is the owner of MUI Group, a conglomerate which includes "retail, hotel, food and financial-services interests in Asia, Australia, the U.S. and the U.K." according to Forbes.[4] He also owned 44% of Laura Ashley plc and serves as its chairman.[4][5] He is a director of Corus Hotels.[6]

He is the 44th richest person in Malaysia, with an estimated wealth of US$300 million according to Forbes.[4] However, the Financial Times suggested he was worth an estimated £400 million in February 2014.[5]

In December 2018, Khoo retired from his role as the executive chairman at MUI, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Andrew.[7][8]

Khoo is a born-again Christian.[1] He married former model, Pauline Chai Siew Phin in December 1970 when Chai was 24 and he was 31, shortly after she won the Miss Malaysia beauty contest. They have five children[9]—Alfred, Andrew, Angelina, Angeline and Alex.[10] None of his children holds Malaysian citizenship or worked in Malaysia as all of them resides in different countries.[11] His third children, Alfred born with Tourette's syndrome while his two other children, Alex and Angelina are on autistic spectrum.[10][9]

He and his wife began divorce proceedings in 2013 after 43 years of marriage, with Chai citing the reason for the divorcement was due to Khoo's controlling behaviour.[4][5] Chai, represented by Ayesha Vardag, issued a petition for divorce in London. However, the petition was disputed and for two years the couple fought over jurisdiction. Mr Justice Bodey of the English High Court ultimately ruled in Chai's favour. In April 2017, Chai was awarded £64 million in divorce settlements, one of the largest recorded.[12]

He resides in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,[4] while his former wife resides at Rossway, an estate in Hertfordshire, England.[6] Their ongoing divorce has led to the revelation of personal details.[13] Chai left Malaysia in 1980 to live in Australia, later in Canada and then in England, and decided to renounced her Malaysian citizenship, claiming that she has "only one friend in Malaysia" and has "no interest" in her home country.[14]

Khoo's daughter, Angeline married Jedidiah Francis, a Caribbean-born data scientist of Indian descent. Due to cultural differences, he refused to give his blessings to them to get married, resulting Khoo and his daughter ended their relationship and no longer talking to each other.[15] Khoo insisted that he would not accept Francis as his son-in-law.[9][15]

•  Malaysia :
  • Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (P.S.M.) - Tan Sri (1986)[16]