Hong Kong billionaire Pansy Ho at 60: from friendships with Canto-pop icons Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, to taking over her casino tycoon father Stanley Ho’s business empire

Jul 28 , 2022

Co-chairperson of MGM China Holdings, Pansy Ho Chiu-king, poses for a photograph in Hong Kong on March 08, 2017. 08MAR17 [FEATURES] SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Ranked by Forbes at the 28th richest person in Hong Kong, Pansy Ho Chiu-king runs Shun Tak Holdings and is a major shareholder in SJM and MGM China in Macau

Before founding PR company Occasions, she was in TVB drama Breakthrough with close friend Danny Chan, and partied with 80s stars Cherie Chung, Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung

You probably know Pansy Ho Chiu-king as one of the many children of late businessman Stanley Ho, aka Macau’s “King of Gambling”, whose brood is estimated to number 16 offspring.

Pansy is a daughter from his second marriage, to wife Lucina Laam King-ying, and is known as one of the richest and most successful businesswomen in Hong Kong.

Shun Tak Holdings chairwoman Pansy Ho Chiu-king. Photo: Nora Tam

Chairing Shun Tak Holdings and being a major shareholder in various companies, including her father’s SJM and MGM China, she is ranked No 28 in Forbes’ “2022 Hong Kong’s 50 Richest” and currently has a net worth of a cool US$3.4 billion.

Celebrating her 60th birthday this August, Ho has often kept a low profile over the years. Most recent news is focused on her career as well as the various positions she has taken up, such as serving as the chairperson of the Hong Kong Federation of Women. Little has been reported about her private life but the heiress certainly carved a colourful path on her way to becoming one of the richest women in the region. Here’s what we do know ...

A showbiz start

The late Stanley Ho with his daughter and MGM managing director Pansy Ho, during the opening of the MGM Grand Macau hotel and casino in 2007. Photo: Reuters

Ho briefly dabbled in the entertainment industry when she was just 19 years old. The late singer Danny Chan Pak-keung introduced her to showbiz, the two being said to have met in party district Lan Kwai Fong in 1981. Later that year, Ho had a cameo in the TVB drama Breakthrough, which starred Chan as the male lead.

Despite her interest in art and culture, she did not continue to pursue an acting career. With a bachelor’s degree in marketing and business from Santa Clara University, California, she started working in the commercial field, and founded one of Hong Kong’s most successful PR companies, Occasions, in 1987.

Ho has plenty of showbiz soul mates

Pansy Ho and Cherie Chung at a Chopard event in Elements, Hong Kong. Photo: Handout

Leaving showbiz did not stop her from befriending some of Hong Kong’s biggest stars of the 80s, with Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung and, of course, Danny Chan among her close friends.