Predecessor A family-held publisher The predecessor of Sing Tao Holdings as a parent company of Sing Tao Group, was Sing Tao Limited, which was incorporated on 22 October 1951 as
Sin Poh Amalgamated (H.K.) Limited. It replaced "Sing Tao Jih Pao Limited" as the parent company of the group, which the latter was incorporated on 29 June 1938. It was renamed to
Sing Tao Newspapers Limited on 27 May 1972 and
Sing Tao Limited on 13 February 1986. At first, the main business of the company was the publisher of
Sing Tao Daily () and
Sing Tao Wan Pao (). According to the Annual Return filed to the Hong Kong Company Registries in 1952,
Aw Boon Haw owned 630 out of 1500 shares of the company; other shareholders were his sons (Aw Kow () 60; Aw Swan (), 60; Aw It Haw () 100; Aw Sze Haw () 100), daughters (
Sally Aw and Aw Sing () 60 each), nephews (
Aw Cheng Chye (), and Aw Cheng Taik (), 60 each) and grandson, daughters and third generation relatives (total 310 shares held by 9 persons), for a total of 18 persons. , son of Aw Boon Haw, who helped the family to found
Sing Tao Daily, died in January 1951 due to a plane crash. After the death of Aw Boon Haw in 1954, ,
Aw Cheng Chye, eldest son of Aw Boon Haw's brother
Aw Boon Par (b.1888, d.1944), was the general manager of Singapore-based
Eng Aun Tong, the maker of
Tiger Balm, while Sally Aw, became the head of Sin Poh Amalgamated (H.K.) Limited, which she was the largest shareholder among the family member. , Sally Aw's brother,
Aw Kow, was also a director of
Sin Chew Jit Poh of
Singapore and
Malaysia; her brother, Aw Swan, was the general manager of
Sin Chew Jit Poh from June 1971 while her cousin Aw Cheng Taik was the managing director of
Singapore Tiger Standard until it was defunct in the 1950s. Widow of Aw Hoe, Chan Sow Yong, also served as an executive of Sing Tao.
Initial public offering and diversification The shares of Sing Tao Newspapers Limited () was once traded in Far East Exchange () and Kam Ngan Stock Exchange () from 1972, the predecessors of
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (). The
initial public offering price was HK$6. Sing Tao's listing was only few years behind the listing of
Haw Par Brothers International, a Singapore company held by Singapore-based branch of Aw family. Moreover, the publisher of
Hong Kong Tiger Standard was changed from "The Tiger Standard Limited" to "Hong Kong Standard Newspapers Limited" circa early 1970s (the latter was incorporated on 28 August 1970). The former was owned by Aw family directly but the latter was a subsidiary of Sing Tao Newspapers Limited in the late 1970s for 55% shares. It was owned by
Aw Toke Tone (), the eldest son of the late Aw Hoe for about 90% in 1970. In October 1972, it was announced that a subsidiary (provisional Chinese name ) was formed to invest in real estate. The group purchased a land lease on 838
Lai Chi Kok Road, Kowloon (New Kowloon Inland Lot No.5567) to build a printing factory and commercial floor area for lease in 1974. In 1977, it was announced that the group had formed its own recording studio and photography processing centre that open to retail customers. According to 1977–78 result announcement, Sing Tao Group had also expanded into
travel agency, medical centre and pharmaceutical industry. By 1979, Sing Tao operated their printing and publishing business as ), as well as Leefung-Asco's joint venture South China Printing Co., Ltd.
Privatization and second IPO In 1985, the company was privatised by Sally Aw via an Australian-listed company Cereus Australia for a reported price HK$13 per share (HK$11.5 cash and 1 share of Cinclus.) The deal also made Cinclus had a wide shareholders base to apply for listing as a replacement of Sing Tao. The price was HK$630 million (HK$705 per gross floor area). which the location was now known as Lippo Sun Plaza, The Sun Arcade and a hotel,
The Langham (Hong Kong). However, less than a year of privatisation, Sing Tao Newspapers Limited was renamed to Sing Tao Limited (); the company started another IPO in 1986 and traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 19 March of the same year. In 1987, Sally Aw owned 101,385,026 number of shares directly while her nephew Aw Toke Tone owned 216,000 directly; The ex-parent company was engaged in property investment in Sydney. The company also operates several printing businesses, most notably the
South China Printing Company (1988) Limited.
Sing Tao Sports Club Limited, a professional football club founded by
Sally Aw and
Hsu King Shing (the coach of Sing Tao SC before its incorporation), was later owned by Sing Tao Limited and Wong Yue Kai (an accountant of Sing Tao Holdings). The paid-in share capital of the club was remained unchanged for many year for just HK$200. to . A subsidiary, Sing Tao Newspapers (Canada 1988) Limited, was also turned to a 50–50 joint venture between Sing Tao Holdings and
Toronto Star Newspapers Limited in the same year.
Sing Tao management found guilty of fudging circulation numbers In 1998, members of the management team were found guilty of falsifying circulation numbers for
The Standard newspaper, to attract advertisers and to raise the revenue of the newspapers. According to a report by the
Center for International Media Assistance, the circulation of
Sing Tao Daily and most major Beijing-friendly Chinese newspapers with overseas editions were remain unaudited, and therefore vulnerable to exaggeration:
The Standard were audited by Hong Kong Audit Bureau of Circulations Limited as of 2012. The case, later known as
Hongkong Standard case or
Sally Aw case () was criticised by the public by not suing
Sally Aw, the chairwoman of Sing Tao Holdings.
Chief executive of Hong Kong,
Tung Chee-hwa, in the "''Report on the key issues during the second year of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China''" made a defence for decision of the Secretary for Justice
Elsie Leung. However,
Tung Chee-chen, brother of Tung Chee-hwa, was an independent
non-executive director of Sing Tao Holdings since December 1996, It was reported that Tung Chee-hwa was a family friend of Sally Aw.
Takeover and dismantle As of 1998, the company was still owned by
Sally Aw, the daughter of the founder of
Sing Tao Daily for 50.04%. It was reported that Aw agreed to sell 23% shares of the company, to Dublin-listed private equity fund China Enterprise Development Fund for a reported HK$115.8 million (HK$1.20 per share) in December 1998. However,
Lazard Asia won the final bid to become the controlling shareholder for a reported HK$269 million). According to
Charles Ho who bought Sing Tao Holdings in 2001 from Lazard, also made an attempt to buy Sing Tao, but collapsed. However, Cha denied any formal agreement was signed. Ho's grandfather Ho Ying-chie, also filed a bankruptcy petition against Aw in January 1999. During Lazard as the major shareholder, Hong Kong banker
Cheung Din Youn (, brother of
Barry Cheung) was the chairman and Charles Ho was the honorary chairman and an independent non-executive director. In mid-1999,
Sing Tao SC stopped its operation as a football club. The legal entity of the company was used for other business in 2010 as Sing Tao Media Services, by its new owner
Sing Tao News Corporation after many years of dormant. In 2000, Sing Tao Holdings re-launched
The Standard in
tabloid format. In January 2001,
Global China Technology Group, majority owned by Charles Ho, acquired approximately 51.36% shares of Sing Tao Holdings from Astral Light Investments Limited, a subsidiary of
Lazard Asia Fund A, L.P., for HK355.6 million (HK$1.65 per share). In January 2002 South China Printing, Noble World Printing, Roman Financial Press, Valiant Packaging Holdings and their subsidiaries were sold from Sing Tao Holdings to
Asia Printers Group for HK$428 million; Asia Printers Group was owned by
CVC Capital Partners and
Citigroup. In August 2002 the shares of Sing Tao Holdings that held by Global China Technology Group (74.5%), was sold to a private company Ming Yuan Investment Group for HK163.8 million (HK$0.524 per share). Ming Yuan Investment Group was owned by Yao Yuan (). The deal making the shareholder of Sing Tao Holdings at that time, would owned the shares of both
Shanghai Ming Yuan Holdings (ex-Sing Tao Holdings) and
Global China Technology Group if they did not sell the shares before the transactions. The residual assets at the 2002 takeover was mainly property investment However, it excluded
Colony Hotel in Toronto. ==Footnotes==