Rolls-Royce is a brand synonym with England’s luxury, until it was sold to BMW. From January 2003, only only BMW would be able to name cars “Rolls-Royce”, and Volkswagen Group’s former Rolls-Royce/Bentley division would build only cars called “Bentley”. Regardless of the ownerships, both Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars belong to the rich and famous. And Rolls-Royce have just clinched its world’s single largest order of Rolls-Royces ever.
The deal was formalised yesterday – 16th September 2014 – at a signing ceremony at the Home of Rolls‑Royce at Goodwood in West Sussex, England. The signing ceremony was attended by Rolls-Royce CEO, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, the Board of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Louis XIII executives, a representative from Graff Diamonds and – Stephen Hung. The purchase – 30 Rolls-Royces.
At a glance, Stephen Hung looks no different from other Hong Kong gangster or triad members, thanks to his long dyed haircut. It would be perfect if he tattoos his body. And when he drove his Rolls-Royce, he could easily be mistaken as another gang member working part-time as a parking attendant. But 55-year-old Stephen Hung is a Hong Kong billionaire.
The super rich Stephen studied at Columbia University and University of Southern California. He was involved in the banking sector while working for Merill Lynch Asia. And he made his fortune from deals in investment banking and real estate. He is married to the former model Deborah Valdez and they have two children, Sean and Ivan. In spite of his wealth, he has found a new toy to keep him busy.
His biggest dream is in Macau, to build the most luxurious and exclusive casino resort ever imagined – Louis XIII. The President of Louis XIII Holdings company, Stephen, who named his new toy after a great French king, is targeting end of 2014 or first quarter of 2015 to launch the new magnificent resort. Located south off the Cotai Coast, the 22-storey Louis XIII will be the world’s most extravagant hotel suite, at least that was what Stephen claims.
A 1,858-square-metre room will cost nearly US$130,000 a night (£79,700; RM418,000). Patrons will need an invitation to shop in private boutiques at the resort, simply because jewellery items at this 200-room luxury resort will cost at least US$1 million a pop, with some priced at over mind-boggling US$100 million. And a single bet on the estimated 66 gambling tables is at minimum US$650 (£400; RM2,000).
That would make Las Vegas or Disney looks like a child play. But when even the supposedly luxury Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd. and MGM Resorts International were scratching heads on how to convince rich Asian gamblers to spice up their lives outside the tables, could Stephen Hung do it? The flamboyant Hung believes so, and it’s not hard to see why – he was born to rich property investors in Hong Kong.
Even when Stephen was an intern, he drove a Rolls-Royce to work. Considering there are now nearly 14,000 people in China and Hong Kong worth at least $30 million, it’s a huge opportunity to get some bucks from them. From 2008 when China had just 28 billionaires, the figure had exploded to 122 now. And now, to make his promise good in delivering luxury, the world’s largest fleet of Rolls-Royce Phantoms are set to arrive at the Louis XIII hotel in 2016.
Apparently, each of the 30 Rolls-Royces has been extensively customised by Rolls-Royce’s Bespoke design team at Goodwood working hand-in-hand with Stephen Hung and Louis XIII to create truly distinctive vehicles. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has also helped to design the parking and driveways to house the fleet at Louis XIII and will train Louis XIII’s chauffeurs from Macau in the appropriate driving and handling of the unique vehicles.
Surely the US$20 million purchase would just be another loose change to billionaire Hung, considering the main objective of the Phantom fleet to chauffeur the guests of Louis XIII is to make them “feel special”. Still, until the fleet arrives, the distinct luxury belongs to neighbour Hong Kong’s 5-Star Peninsula Hotel’s 14 dark green Phantoms bought in 2006.
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September 17th, 2014 by financetwitter
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Mr.Stephen Hung the Billionaire to kindly take SBI Life Insurance Policies from me, if he agrees.