Solina Chau

Solina Chau Hoi Shuen (周凱旋) (born ca. 1961) is a prominent businesswoman in Hong Kong, strategic business partner in the Cheung Kong Group, and director of the Li Ka Shing Foundation. She is also a major stockholder in Tom.com, a major publication and advertising company in the People's Republic of China.

Biography

Chau attended the Diocesan Girls' School, Hong Kong, where she sat the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination in 1978. Upon her graduation, she went on to further study in Sydney, Australia [cite web
last = Kong
first = Winnie
title = Solina H S Chau - Class of '78
publisher = Diocesan Girls' School
date = February, 2002
url = http://www.doga.org.hk/solinachau.htm
accessdate = 2007-03-16 ] .

Business career

In 1997, Chau set up Tom as a Cayman Island registered limited company as a minority (40%) partner together with Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings in a series of transactions which netted her an estimated USD 11 million in cash [cite news
last = Webb
first = David
title = A Brief History of Tom
publisher = webbsite.com
date = March 21, 2000
accessdate = 2007-03-16 ] even before the company began to trade.

In 2002, Chau invested RMB ￥ 1 million into an interactive voice-recognition service provider, "Beijing Leitingwuji Nework Technology Company Limited" (北京雷霆无极网络科技有限公司) [cite web
title = Tom.com rings in acquisition
url= http://www.satellitefinance.com/nodes/MediaFinance/Media-Finance-Issue-36/Asia/Tom.com-rings-in-acquisition.html;jsessionid=33BD6E92E22AA9D845D1BC66B6BC8F41
publisher = Media Finance, Issue 36
date = Oct 2003
accessdate = 2007-03-16 ] . In September 2003, before the company was even profitable, she sold it to TOM Group for the sum of USD132 million. Its subsidiary TOM Online was then separately listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in early 2004 [cite news
last = Yam
first = Shirley
title = Solina Chau's Yuan 1m may lead to control of Tom Group
publisher = South China Morning Post
date = March 10, 2007
pages = B12
accessdate = 2007-03-16 ] .

Chau remained a 9.998% shareholder in Tom Online until March 12, 2007, when Tom Group announced an offer for the outstanding shares in Tom Online, to take the company private. Chau also has a 24% stake in TOM Group prior to the announcement [cite web
title = TOM Group bids HK$1.57 bln to privatize TOM Online
url = http://news.jongo.com/articles/07/0312/8786/ODc4NgP6etiAyr.html
publisher = Jongo News
date = 2007-03-12
accessdate = 2007-03-16 ] .

References