Khoo Kay Peng
Tan Sri Khoo Kay Peng (; born December 1939) is a Malaysian Chinese businessman. He is the chairman and a major shareholder of Laura Ashley plc, and the owner of MUI Group. Khoo Kay Peng was born in December 1939. Khoo was mentored by Khoo Teck Puat, who founded Malayan Banking in 1960. Khoo joined the new bank and soon became a manager. In 1965, he was seconded to Bank Bumiputra, and quickly rose to a senior position. In his ten years there, he built relationships with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Robert Kuok and Tan Koon Swan. He left in 1976 to start his own business, developing property in Kuala Lumpur with a loan from Southern Banking, which made him a millionaire. In 1976, he bought a major stake in MUI Group, then a manufacturer of toothbrushes and household utensils, and used it as a vehicle for a series of corporate takeovers, growing MUI to a 300 million according to Forbes. However, the Financial Times suggested he was worth an estimated £400 million in February 2014. In December 2018, Khoo retired from his role as the executive chairman at MUI, and was succeeded by his son, Andrew. Khoo married former model, Pauline Chai in 1970 when Chai was 24 and he was 31, shortly after she won the Miss Malaysia beauty contest. They have five children—Andrew, Angelina, Alfred, Angeline and Alex. His third children, Alfred born with Tourette's syndrome while his two other children, Alex and Angelina are on autistic spectrum. He and his wife began divorce proceedings in 2013 after 43 years of marriage, with Chai citing the reason for the divorcement was due to Khoo's controlling behaviour.