Peter Lim | |
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林榮福 | |
Born | |
Education | University of Western Australia |
Occupations |
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Known for |
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Spouses | Teo Geok Fong (m. 1990–2002)Cherie Lim (m. 2003) |
Children | 2 (including Kiat Lim) |
Peter Lim (born 21 May 1953) is a Singaporean business magnate who was a stockbroker and an investor in palm oil, and is now a private investor focused on healthcare, property, sports, and education. [2] [3] [4] In 2023, he was ranked 23rd on Forbes' list of Singapore's 50 Richest with a net worth of US$1.9 billion. [5] [2] He is a shareholder of English club Salford City and the owner of Spanish La Liga club Valencia CF since 2014. [6] [7] [8] [9]
In 2010, Lim won the biggest libel payout in Singapore's history in the Raffles Town Club saga. [10] [11]
The son of a fishmonger, [12] Lim and his seven siblings grew up in a two-bedroom government flat in the Bukit Ho Swee public housing estate. [12] Lim completed his secondary school education at the Raffles Institution. [12] After National Service, he went to Perth to study at the University of Western Australia. [13] To fund his university education, Lim worked part-time doing odd jobs as a taxi driver, cook and waiter. [13]
While working at Australian fast-food chain Red Rooster, Lim studied how businesses are started, how they grow, and how they scale up. [14]
He graduated with a degree in accounting and finance and first worked as an accountant and did some tax consultancy before going into stocks. [12]
In the early 1990s, Lim invested about US$10 million in a start-up palm-oil company, Wilmar. [15] In 2010, Lim cashed out at the peak of commodity prices and sold his Wilmar shares for US$1.5 billion. [16]
Lim was known as the "Remisier King" (commission king) due to his success as a stockbroker in the 1980s. [17]
Lim quit the brokerage business in 1996 and became a private investor. He was able to escape the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis as he had liquidated most of his stocks and was holding cash.[ citation needed ]
Lim owns a controlling stake (83%) in Spanish La Liga club Valencia CF, [18] a 40% stake in Salford City F.C., [19] stakes in British supercar maker McLaren Automotive, [20] and Hotel Football next to Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. [21] Since becoming majority shareholder of Valencia CF in 2014, the club has qualified for the UEFA Champions League 3 times, but also won the Copa del Rey in 2019. After six years of ownership, the club consistently underperformed and achieved some of the poorest results in its modern history. [22] [23] Separately, Salford City achieved 4 promotions in 5 seasons to reach League Two in 2019, [24] and won the delayed 2020 Papa John's Trophy. [25] In October 2021, Peter Lim co-founded ZujuGP with his son. [26]
Lim once bid for English Premier League soccer club, Liverpool Football Club but was rejected. [27]
In May 2014, Lim was designated by the Fundación Valencia CF as the buyer of 70.4% of the shares owned by the club's foundation. After months of negotiations between Lim and Bankia (the main creditor of the club), an agreement was reached in August 2014. [28] Nuno Espírito Santo was hired as head manager on 2 July 2014, which was one of the conditions Lim had insisted on when buying the club. [29] [30] This attracted attention in the media because of Espírito Santo's close relationship with the football agent Jorge Mendes, whose first-ever client was Espírito Santo. [31] [32] Lim and Mendes are also close friends and business partners. [33] Espírito Santo's first season was successful, with notable signings. [34] [35] [36] Valencia finished the 2014–15 season in fourth place for Champions League qualification with 77 points, just one point ahead of Sevilla after a dramatic final week, defeating Granada 4–0. [29] [37]
In 2017, the club announced club president Lay Hoon Chan had submitted her resignation and that she would be replaced by Anil Murthy. [38] After rumours arose of Lim's attempts at selling the club, Murthy assured the fans and local media that Valencia was a long-term project for both him and Lim, and they would not consider selling the club. [39] [40]
In 2021, after six seasons under Peter Lim's ownership, Valencia CF began to pay the banks, which it was financially unable to do previously. [41]
During the 2022–23 season, manager Gennaro Gattuso was fired in January, leaving the team in danger of relegation. [42] His substitute, Rubén Baraja, was the team's 12th manager since Lim arrived. [43]
Lim's management of Valencia CF, which has been associated with player sell-offs [8] and lack of inward transfers[ clarification needed ], has been criticised by Valencia's fans, [7] [8] [44] [45] player Geoffrey Kondogbia, [46] and managers and directors such as Cesare Prandelli, [47] Javier Subirats, [48] and Javi Gracia. [49] In 2023, a fan club addressed a protest letter to the Singapore Consulate in Madrid. [50]
In June 2010 the Singapore Olympic Foundation (SOF) set up the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship with a S$10 million donation from Lim. The gift is the single largest donation in Singapore from an individual towards sports development. [51] The recipients are typically students who come from financially challenged backgrounds and have demonstrated a potential to excel in their respective sports. [52] In 2019, Lim further pledged to continue supporting young local athletes for another 10 years from 2021 to 2030 by donating another S$10 million to the SOF-Peter Lim Scholarship. [53] Since the inception of the scholarship, 2642 student-athletes have received scholarships amounting to $7.2 million. [53]
Lim further committed a separate S$20 million to start a new community project focused on helping children from less privileged backgrounds, with the aim of helping them reach their potential. [53]
In 2014, Lim also endowed Nanyang Technological University with S$3 million to fund a professorship in peace studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies to protect and promote harmony in Singapore. [54]
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