Lim Kok Thay

Tan Sri Dato' Lim Kok Thay (simplified Chinese: 林国泰; traditional Chinese: 林國泰; pinyin: Lín Guó Tài; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Kok-Thài, born 1951) is a prominent entrepreneur in Malaysia. He is the second son of Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the founder of the Genting Group^[1] and Puan Lee Kim Fa.

Career

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay is the chairman and Chief Executive of Genting Berhad, the holding company of the Genting Group, a conglomerate which is involved in leisure & hospitality, power generation, oil palm plantations, property development, biotechnology and oil & gas business activities.^[2][3][4][5]

He is the co-founder of Genting Hong Kong Limited, formerly known as Star Cruises Limited. Star Cruises, together with Norwegian Cruise Line is the third largest cruise operator in the world, with a combined fleet of 18 ships visiting over 200 destinations in the world, and providing about 35,000 lower berths.^[6]

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from University of London, United Kingdom. He attended the advanced management programme of Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA in 1979.^[7]

In 1976, he was appointed a director of Genting Berhad.^[8] Under the founder's and Kok Thay's stewardship, the Genting Group grew from a single listed entity in 1971 to five listed entities (comprising Genting Berhad),^[9] Genting Malaysia Berhad^[10] and Genting Plantations Berhad^[11] which are listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia; Genting Singapore Plc^[12] which is listed on the main board of Singapore Exchange and Genting Hong Kong^[13] which is listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

He was appointed the chairman and Chief Executive of Genting Berhad and Genting Malaysia Berhad when the late Tan Lim Goh Tong retired in December 2003.^[14] Kok Thay has since expanded Genting's presence globally, especially in the leisure tourism and entertainment industry.

Under his guidance, the Genting Group has developed leisure brands such as "Resorts World", "Maxims", "Crockfords" and "Awana", as well as established strategic partnerships with Universal Studios, Hard Rock Hotel, Premium Outlets, Synthetic Genomics and many others.^[15][16]

In 1990, he assisted the Mashantucket Pequots, a Native American Tribe to establish Foxwoods Resorts Casino in Connecticut, With 340,000 square feet of floor space, the Foxwoods Resort Casino is the largest casino in the United States.^[17][18]

He guided the expansion works of the Group's first integrated resort, Resorts World Genting, formerly known as Genting Highlands Resort. Resorts World Genting has been voted by World Travel Awards as the "World's Leading Casino Resort in years 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010" and also voted as "Asia's Leading Casino Resort" from years 2005 to 2010.^[19]

In 2005, he expanded Group's presence to the United Kingdom ("UK"). Today, Genting UK Plc is the largest casino operator in the UK with 43 casinos.^[20]

In 2006, Tan Sri Lim led his team to win the competitive bid to build and operate Singapore's first integrated resort on Sentosa Island, called Resorts World Sentosa.^[21] The resort was progressively opened from January 2010^[22] and has become a prominent tourist destination in the country.^[23] The resort features Southeast Asia's first Universal Studios Singapore, six themed hotels, Maritime Experiential Museum and Aquarium^[24] and many more attractions.^[25]

Today, under the guidance of Tan Sri Lim, the Genting Group has integrated resort properties in three Asian countries, namely Resorts World Genting in Malaysia, Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore and Resorts World Manila in the Philippines, attracting millions of leisure visitors and creating employment and tourism activities in these countries. The Group has two leisure projects in the United States of America, namely Resorts World New York and Resorts World Miami.

Tan Sri Lim was appointed as a Visiting Professor of the UK-based Institute of Biomedical Engineering of Imperial College, London in October 2009.^[26] He was also appointed the Honorary Professor of Xiamen University, China in December 2007.^[27]

Personal

Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay is married to Puan Sri Cecilia Lim.^[28][29][30]

Recognitions

In 2002, he was bestowed the national award titleship of "Tan Sri" by his Majesty, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, for his contributions to Malaysia.^[31]

In 2009, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay named the "Travel Entrepreneur of the Year" by Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) Asia )^[32] and "The Most Influential Person in Asian Gaming" by Inside Asian Gaming, for his contributions to the leisure and travel industry.^[33]

See also

• Genting Group
• Tun Lim Goh Tong
• Resorts World Genting
• Resorts World Sentosa
• Resorts World Manila
• Resorts World Miami

References