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Third-gen promoted at Hong Kong's New World Development

Hong Kong family business New World Development has announced third-gen Adrian Cheng will become executive vice chairman next week, indicting he could be the anointed heir to run the property empire.

Cheng, 34, sits on the board of directors with his sister, Sonia, 33, who is chief executive of subsidiary Rosewood Hotel Group. Their brother Brian, 31, sits on the board of another subsidiary, NWS Holdings.

The siblings' father, Henry Cheng, is chairman of New World Development.

New World Development was founded in 1970, and is controlled by Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, which gives the Cheng family a 43% stake.

Founder of the group Cheng Yu-tung joined Chow Tai Fook when it was a single jewellery shop based in Macau. He married into the business through the owner's daughter, and went on to transform it into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate.

It continues to own Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, which now has over 2,000 retail stores.

The patriarch was chairman of New World Development until 2012.

Cheng, like his sister, was educated at Harvard, graduating with an arts degree. They both featured in CampdenFB's Top 60 Family Business Leaders for 2014.

His appointment is effective from 1 April.

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