Noodle king eyes food companies

Taiwanese billionaire Wei Ing-chou, whose "Master Kong" brand built Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp into China's largest maker of instant noodles, said he may buy mainland food companies and expand his real estate holdings before retiring in four years.

Tingyi may target companies that produce beverages and baked good on the mainland, and its largest shareholder may buy and manage office property in Taipei and Shanghai, Wei said on Monday during an interview at company headquarters in Tianjin.

"In this world there's no brighter place than the Chinese mainland," Wei said. "We won't give this place up. The pursuing of other markets will be for my sons to do."

Wei plans to leave the company in four years when he turns 60, aiming to ease investor concerns on management succession at the family-controlled firm. His replacement will be one of the company's current executives, he said without identifying the candidates.

Wei Hong-ming, the chairman's eldest son, is a manager in the company, while Wei Hong-chen, his third son, is an assistant manager. Wei Ing-chou has three sons.

"It's good to have leadership planning and would be good for the company and its shares," said Albert King, who manages $10 million as chief executive officer at Prophet Capital Inc in Taipei. "Still, this is a family business. We have to observe if the chairman still wields influence after stepping down."

Wei Ing-chou started transforming Tingyi from an oil and grease company founded by his parents in 1958 into China's biggest maker of packaged foods in the early 1990s, when he says he foresaw growing demand for fast meals as more Chinese moved from the countryside to the cities for factory work. He opened his first noodle factory in Tianjin in 1992.

Sales of "Master Kong" surged 500-fold since production began, helping make Wei Taiwan's fifth-richest man with an estimated wealth of $3.2 billion, Forbes Magazine reported in July. Tingyi sold 15 billion yuan of instant noodles last year, compared with 30 million yuan ($4.39 million) in 1992.

The company also makes tea, mineral water and juices and sells bakery products.

"He is the king of instant noodles," said Anita Hwang, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co in Hong Kong.

Ting Hsin International Group, Tingyi's biggest shareholder with a 36.6 percent stake at the end of 2008, is controlled by Wei Ing-chou and his three younger brothers.