Robert Kuok Hock Nien, better known as Robert Kuok, was born on 6 October 1923 and is a Malaysian business magnate, investor and philanthropist based in Hong Kong since 1973.
19 Facts About Robert Kuok
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For three months in 2018, Robert Kuok was appointed to the Council of Eminent Persons as an advisor during Mahathir Mohamad's second stint as prime minister.
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Robert Kuok was born on 6 October 1923 in Johor Bahru during British colonial rule to a wealthy Malaysian Chinese family.
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Robert Kuok was named after Robert the Bruce, and was enrolled at an English-medium primary school by his father's English-speaking clerk.
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Kuok's father Kuok Keng Kang arrived in British Malaya from Fuzhou, Fujian, China, at the beginning of the 20th century, and Robert was the youngest of three brothers born to Kuok Keng Kang and Robert's mother Zheng Ge Ru.
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Robert Kuok grew up speaking his parents' Fuzhou dialect, English and later Japanese during the Japanese occupation of Malaya in World War II.
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Robert Kuok studied at English College Johore Bahru for his secondary education and later at Raffles Institution in Singapore where he was classmates with Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore and the country's first prime minister.
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Robert Kuok was promoted to head the rice-trading department.
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Robert Kuok brought many influential Malay elites into his company as directors and shareholders, including politicians and royalty.
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Robert Kuok officially retired from the Kerry Group on 1 April 1993.
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Robert Kuok's companies have investments in many countries, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Mainland China, Indonesia, Fiji, and Australia.
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In 2007, Robert Kuok merged his plantations, edible oil, and grain businesses with Wilmar International, making it the world's biggest palm-oil processor.
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On 31 October 2009, the PPB Group under the flagship of Robert Kuok issued a statement to the Bursa Malaysia that it had decided to dispose of its sugar units along with land used to cultivate sugar cane for RM 1.29 billion to FELDA.
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In February 2014, PACC Offshore Services Holdings, a Singaporean-based oil services operator owned by Robert Kuok started pre-IPO talks with investors to list on the Singapore Stock Exchange to raise $400 million.
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Robert Kuok was instrumental in conveying information and setting up the meetings between Malaysian and Chinese governments leading to full diplomatic cross recognition of the two countries.
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On 12 May 2018, in the aftermath of the Malaysian general election that year where Mahathir Mohamad returned as prime minister of Malaysia, Robert Kuok was appointed to the five-member Council of Eminent Persons along with Tun Daim Zainuddin, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Tan Sri Hassan Marican and Jomo Kwame Sundaram to advise the Pakatan Harapan federal government.
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Robert Kuok's son, Kuok Khoon Ean born in 1955 married Kuok Cheng Sui and holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Nottingham, England.
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Robert Kuok's brother, Philip Robert Kuok Hock Khee was a former Malaysian Ambassador to Germany, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark.
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Philip married Eileen Robert Kuok and had two sons and two daughters.